THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


MEXICO 


WITH 


COMPARISONS  AND  CONCLUSIONS. 


BY  A.  A.  GRAHAM, 

Attorney  at  Law, 

Topeka,  Kansas. 


FIRST  EDITION. 


CRANE  &  COMPANY, 

TOPEKA,  KANSAS. 

A.  D.  1907. 


Copyright  1907,  by  A.  A.  GRAHAM, 
Topeka,  Kansas. 


STACK  ANNEX 


PEEFACE. 

THE  preface  of  a  book,  like  the  plan  of  a  battle  or  a 
building,  should  be  carefully  prepared  by  the  author 
and  examined  by  the  reader  before  entering  into  the 
work;  but  only  generals  and  architects  do  this;  and 
the  soldier  and  the  laborer  do  not  know  to  what  end 
their  efforts  are  bent,  until  the  battle  is  over  or  the 
building  completed,  when  they  are  both  in  a  position 
to  criticise  most  severely. 

I  have  not  written  a  Guidebook,  an  Itinerary,  nor 
yet  a  Memoir;  and  my  object  is,  necessarily,  but 
vaguely  stated  in  the  title,  Mexico  with  Comparisons 
and  Conclusions.  What  features  respecting  Mexico, 
what  Comparisons,  what  Conclusions? 

Mexico,  physically,  least;  industrially,  less;  com- 
mercially, little;  religiously,  much;  politically,  more; 
socially,  most,  is  the  scale  of  importance  on  which  I 
have  placed  the  various  phases  of  the  country  and  the 
nation,  thus  giving  the  chief  place  to  that  which  is 
most  unstable  in  the  life  of  men,  but  is  the  starting- 
point  of  all. 

The  Comparisons  are  drawn  mainly  from  the  United 
States;  but,  also,  include  the  world  at  large,  having 
special  reference  to  the  condition  under  consideration 

in  Mexico. 

[3] 

133^1201 


PREFACE. 


The  Conclusions  are  such  as  I  have  thought  legiti- 
mate and  justifiable,  and  are  my  own.  Some  of  them 
may  fall  hard  upon  interest  and  faction,  but  I  have  no 
apologies  to  make. 

By  this  method,  I  give  the  reader  a  view  of  some 
particular  phase  of  Mexico,  proceeding  by  subjects, 
then  calling  his  attention  to  the  like  condition  in  the 
United  States  or  other  countries;  and,  using  these 
as  premises,  I  have  deduced  my  conclusions. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  work,  the  result  of  travel,  or 
study  merely,  or  otherwise,  constructed  on  this  plan; 
and,  until  I  learn  differently,  will  claim  originality. 

The  great  regret  I  have  to  express  is,  that  this  plan 
has  put  the  proper  performance  of  the  work  far  beyond 
my  capacity;  but,  having  conceived  it,  and  being 
willing,  I  did  my  best. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE, 3 

INTRODUCTORY, 7 

CHAPTER      I,     DESCRIPTIVE, 9 

CHAPTER    II,     INDUSTRIAL, 42 

CHAPTER  III,     COMMERCIAL, 64 

CHAPTER  IV,     RELIGIOUS, 98 

CHAPTER     V,     POLITICAL, 138 

CHAPTER   VI,     SOCIAL, 193 


[5] 


UsTTKODUCTOKY. 

Have  you  read  the  Preface? 
No! 

Well,  then,  read  it;  because  I  do  not  want  you  to 
finish  the  book  before  you  find  out  what  it  is  about. 

During  the  latter  part  of  January,  1907, 1  left  Topeka, 
Kansas,  U.  S.  A.,  for  Mexico,  and  remained  in  that 
country  for  about  two  months,  returning  to  Topeka 
during  the  latter  part  of  March.  This  was  a  business 
trip,  which  occupied  my  time,  except  while  traveling 
or  waiting  between  engagements,  so  that  I  had  little 
time  for  investigation  and  reflection,  but  what  I  had 
I  employed  with  a  vengeance,  in  pursuance  of  rather 
a  vague  desire  of  seeing  the  things  of  which  I  had  heard 
and  read  so  much  than  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
collection  of  facts  and  record  of  impressions,  which  I 
did  not  do.  I  hurried  over  everything  with  hasty 
glances,  securing  mental  images,  which  I  found  taking 
definite  form  in  my  mind,  after  I  had  returned  to  the 
United  States,  and  reflected  upon  my  trip.  I  imagine 
the  results  I  have  attained  in  this  respect  are  compa- 
rable with  the  work  of  a  photographer,  who,  in  an 
outing,  takes  many  instantaneous  views  with  his 
camera,  to  be  developed  at  leisure  in  his  studio.  Con- 
versations, on  my  return,  assisted  in  the  development 
of  my  impressions,  and  the  idea  of  reducing  them  to 
writing  was  the  result  of  these  conversations. 

The  repetitions,  which  will  be  noticed,  are  due  to 

[7] 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 


the  method  of  proceeding  by  subjects,  and  could  not 
well  be  avoided,  as  the  same  fact  has  often  had  various 
applications;  but,  if  specially  considered  with  refer- 
ence to  the  subject,  at  the  time,  in  hand,  they  may  not, 
I  hope,  prove  too  painful  to  the  reader. 


MEXICO. 


CHAPTER  I. 
DESCRIPTIVE. 

'Mejico,  Megico,  Mexico,  thus  variously  spelled  and 
variously  pronounced. 

Open  your  geography  at  a  map  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  glancing  up  and  down  and  from  side  to 
side  for  a  few  moments. 

I  will  now  recount  briefly  what  you  have  noticed, 
only  as  a  basis  for  my  statements :  Ocean  on  the  west, 
gulf  and  sea  on  the  east,  a  river  and  the  mouth  of  a 
river  on  the  north,  an  isthmus  on  the  south.  These 
and  mountains  are  the  natural  boundaries  of  states 
and  the  limits  of  empire.  A  non-navigable  river,  like 
the  Rio  Grande,  is  frequently  the  dividing  line  between 
nations,  but  not  so  with  the  navigable;  the  nation 
that  occupies  the  headwaters  or  upper  valley  of  a 
river,  whether  navigable  or  not,  usually  acquires  juris- 
diction of  its  mouth,  as  has  been  nearly  the  case  with 
the  Colorado ;  an  angle  in  the  general  course  of  a  river 
frequently  describes  an  angle  of  empire  also,  as  illus- 
trated by  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  southern  boundary  as  given,  you  will  notice,  is 
geographically  incorrect;  but  political  waves,  like 
those  of  ocean,  sometimes  break  their  bounds.  The 

[9] 


10  MEXICO. 

isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  is  the  natural,  and,  there- 
fore, should  be  the  political,  boundary  of  Mexico  on 
the  south.  The  wave  that  has  broken  over,  like  that 
of  typhoon  or  earthquake,  must  as  surely  recede. 
The  metaphorical  ocean  of  humanity,  like  its  material 
prototype,  has  its  flows,  its  ebbs,  its  calms,  and  above 
all,  its  longer  periods  not  known  by  any  of  these  names, 
when  the  silent  work  of  change  is  progressing  un- 
noticed ;  then  the  coral  reef  rises,  shores  are  dissolved ; 
and,  in  the  moral  world,  opinions  grow  or  decay. 
Happy  is  the  nation  that  does  not  seek  to  break  its 
bounds;  fortunate  the  people  who  stay  at  home! 

Having  thus  briefly  encompassed  my  subject,  I 
will  proceed  to  an  examination  of  its  features;  and, 
in  a  word,  let  me  tell  you  in  the  beginning,  the  face, 
or,  more  accurately  speaking,  the  surface  of  Mexico, 
aside  from  a  strip  of  coastline  on  the  east,  is  all  moun- 
tain and  plateau.  Mountains,  mountains,  mountains, 
everywhere,  plateaus  between,  not  valleys,  because 
the  mountains  are  broken  into  peaks,  rising  from  the 
plateaus,  level  up  to  their  very  foot. 

The  mountains  of  the  north  two-thirds  of  the  coun- 
try are  composed  of  stratified  rocks,  while  those  of 
the  south  are  mainly  volcanic.  I  suspect  that  those 
of  the  north  were  formed  by  the  sinking  of  the  plateaus, 
while  those  of  the  south  are  of  volcanic  origin,  as  they 
are,  indeed,  mountains  of  lava.  I  suspect,  too,  that 
all  this  occurred,  both  north  and  south,  when  this 
part  of  the  continent  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean, 
else  why  the  clear-cut  distinction  between  the  moun- 
tains and  the  plains?  Why  no  foothills?  This  is  a 
question  for  the  geologist,  but  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
giving  these  impressions. 


DESCRIPTIVE.  11 


I  think,  also,  that  the  valleys  of  the  Rio  Grande  and 
the  Colorado  mark  the  northern  boundary  of  the  moun- 
tain formation  of  North  America  resulting  from  the 
sinking  of  the  plateaus  or  valleys,  and  that  these  river 
valleys  are,  likewise,  the  southern  boundary  of  our 
great  western  ranges,  clearly  the  product  of  upheavals 
of  the  earth's  crust,  between  which,  in  the  Great  Basin, 
the  mountains  are  of  the  same  formation  as  those 
south  of  the  Colorado  and  the  Rio  Grande;  but,  if 
we  assume — which  is  the  geological  fact — that  the 
valley  of  the  Colorado  was  the  result  of  the  erosion  of 
the  waters  of  that  river,  after  the  period  of  volcanic 
activity,  then  we  have  sufficient  data  from  which  to 
conclude  that  that  part  of  North  America  lying  from 
about  the  tropic  of  Cancer  on  the  south,  extending 
in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  the  valley  of  the  Colum- 
bia on  the  north,  in  the  period  of  its  mountain  forma- 
tion, comprised  a  single  and  continuous  area,  subject 
to  the  same  influences  or  forces,  and,  hence,  issuing 
in  a  uniform  result. 

This  theory  seems  to  gather  force,  when  we  reflect, 
that,  from  a  material  and  mechanical  standpoint,  on 
the  surface  of  a  globe,  which  can  have  only  a  uniform 
amount  of  area,  if  one  portion  of  the  surface  is  ele- 
vated, a  corresponding  depression  will  also  occur,  and 
vice  versa,  as  any  child  may  illustrate  in  the  manipu- 
lation of  a  rubber  ball. 

Only  one  question  remains:  Why  did  not  all  this 
extent  of  surface  sink  uniformly?  And  this  is  easily 
answered:  Because  the  upheavals  did  not  occur  uni- 
formly, nor  at  the  same  time.  The  upheaval  of  a 
given  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  caused  the  sinking 
of  a  like  area  beside  it ;  the  sinking,  solid  portion  em- 


12  MEXICO. 

bedding  itself  in  the  plastic  portion  beneath,  made  a 
prop  or  support  for  the  surrounding  crust.  Now, 
when  an  upheaval  occurred  at  another  place  close  by, 
another  portion  of  the  crust  would  be  depressed,  thus 
forming  a  prop  or  support  for  the  other  side  of  the 
undepressed  crust,  which,  in  this  manner,  has  become 
a  mountain,  a  veritable  keystone  of  an  arch. 

The  theory,  with  which  I  started,  I  think,  has  now 
become  a  proposition;  and  it  also  explains  why  the 
earth's  crust  is  thinnest  at  the  base  of  a  mountain  or 
the  shore  of  the  ocean,  as  I  will  thus  illustrate: 

Take  three  books,  placing  them  in  a  line  end  to  end 
to  represent  the  earth's  crust;  the  book  on  the  right, 
call  the  Atlantic ;  the  one  on  the  left,  the  Pacific ;  the 
one  in  the  center,  the  Western  Continent ;  and  imagine 
an  inch  of  water  on  top.  We  are  now  ready  for  the 
beginning  of  geological  times.  Elevate  the  center 
book  two  inches;  the  inch  of  water  runs  off;  and,  if 
we  had  no  other  element  to  consider,  the  center  book, 
representing  the  Western  Continent,  would  stand  one- 
half  an  inch  above  sea-level,  if  no  corresponding  dis- 
placements have  occurred  in  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific,  as  the  continent  rose  between;  but,  as  the 
general  level  of  the  entire  ocean  must  now  adjust  it- 
self to  the  new  condition,  we  have  a  differential  ele- 
ment in  the  calculation,  with  which,  however,  we  need 
not  deal,  as  it  does  not  change  the  gross  result. 

Now,  measure  the  distance  from  the  top  of  the  books, 
representing  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  one  representing  the  continent,  and  you 
will  ascertain  by  what  amount  the  earth's  crust  is 
thinner  at  the  point  of  junction  on  either  side. 

In  the  same  manner,  we  may  use  three  books  to 


DESCRIPTIVE.  13 


illustrate  the  formation  of  mountains,  arising  from 
continents  as  the  continents  arose  from  the  ocean: 
call  the  center  book  the  mountain  area,  and  the  right 
and  the  left,  the  plains  on  either  side.  Elevate  the 
center  book,  and  we  have  an  illustration  of  the  forma- 
tion of  a  mountain  by  upheaval;  but,  if  we  depress 
the  books  on  the  right  and  the  left,  we  have  an  illus- 
tration of  the  formation  of  a  mountain  by  the  sinking 
of  the  plains,  with  the  center  book  representing  the 
mountain,  wedged  like  a  keystone  in  the  arch  thus 
formed,  as  before  stated. 

Beyond  the  extent  covered  by  my  description,  I 
am  not  familiar  with  the  vertebral  column  of  the 
American  Continent;  but  how  much  its  back  was 
bent,  strained  and  broken  in  the  activities  of  its  youth, 
how  many  aches  and  pains  it  suffered  in  its  prime,  and 
how  helpless  it  has  become  in  its  old  age,  we  may  still 
gather  from  the  fragments  of  its  geological  pages,  now 
scattered,  torn,  and  wasting  away. 

Volcanic  activity  was  the  fire  of  its  life,  now  ex- 
tinguished and  cold  in  death,  dissolution  and  decay, 
from  which,  transformation. 

In  all  ages,  the  similar  and  the  similitude  in  Earth 
and  Man  have  engaged  the  minds  of  the  thoughtful 
in  the  construction  of  hypotheses,  and  the  feelings  of 
the  frivolous  in  the  building  of  hopes. 

To  complete  the  sketch,  I  should  say  that  the  Ap- 
palachian range,  with  which  I  am  somewhat  familiar, 
is  physically  disconnected  from,  and  chronologically 
disassociated  with,  the  ranges  of  Mexico  and  those  of 
western  United  States,  British  Columbia  and  Alaska, 
in  that  the  Appalachians  formed  the  crest  of  but  a 
comparatively  small  island,  and  had  been  well  worn 


14  MEXICO. 

away  before  the  backbone  of  the  continent  began  to 
differentiate,  when  all  that  most  fruitful  valley  now 
between  was  the  bed  of  the  ocean.  Then  the  Gulf 
Stream  surely  flowed  north  along  the  present  course 
of  the  Mississippi,  deflecting  eastward  along  the  pres- 
ent course  of  the  chain  of  great  lakes  and  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and,  its  current  spreading,  deposited  its 
sediment,  thus  forming  the  lowlands  of  Labrador,  in 
like  manner  as  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  have  since 
been  formed  by  the  same  Gulf  Stream,  flowing  in  nearly 
the  same  general  direction,  but  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Appalachian  range,  which,  in  the  same  facetious 
analogy,  as  made  us  call  the  Rockies  the  backbone,  we 
might  designate  the  breastbone  of  the  continent. 

In  this  progression  of  events,  time  is  scarcely  an 
element;  but,  if  admitted  at  all,  years  must  be  ex- 
cluded as  the  unit,  and  we  must  substitute  ages  and 
periods  only  as  a  help  to  our  minds  in  an  endeavor  to 
grasp  immensity. 

In  this  view,  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence 
are  but  channels,  which  have  not  yet  drained  to  the 
great  body  of  the  ocean  that  part  imprisoned  in  the 
center  of  our  continent  by  the  rising  of  the  shores. 

The  geology  of  the  Appalachians,  like  the  history  of 
the  civilization  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  is  lost  in  the 
ravages  of  time;  but,  I  hope,  in  neither  case,  beyond 
recovery. 

The  mountains  of  Mexico  are  recent,  and,  indeed, 
new,  while  those  of  the  Appalachian  range  in  the  United 
States  and  their  extension  into  Canada,  are  the  oldest 
in  the  world,  the  oldest  land  above  water,  and,  there- 
fore, should  be,  at  least  geologically,  called  the  Old 
World. 


DESCRIPTIVE.  15 


Those  who  have  seen  only  time-worn  and  rounded 
knobs  and  swelling  and  timbered  ranges  have  yet 
much  to  add  to  their  idea  of  mountain:  lofty,  pre- 
cipitous, imminent,  rugged,  inaccessible,  sublime,  terri- 
ble, are,  to  them,  words  only  with  a  dictionary  mean- 
ing. 

The  broken  face  of  nature  presented  by  these  Mexi- 
can mountains  might  lead  one  to  imagine  that  here 
was  fought  the  battle  between  the  Giants  and  the 
Titans,  which  once  (in  fable)  decided  the  fate  of  the 
world,  when  mountains  were  tossed  as  missiles  and  the 
solid  earth  set  on  fire. 

No  fabulous  exploit  was  ever  too  extravagant  for 
the  emulation  of  man,  and  our  graduating  theses  are 
likely  to  be  laid  along  these  lines;  but  we  eventually 
realize  that,  instead  of  moving  mountains,  we  cast, 
like  children  playing  in  the  sands,  but  a  small  cloud  of 
dust,  and  that,  instead  of  setting  the  world  on  fire,  we 
warm  but  a  very  small  spot  on  this  earth. 
^;Have  these  mountains  gold?  No,  not  much.  Sil- 
ver? Yes,  some.  Lead?  A  little.  Copper?  Yes, 
inV  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  country.  Coal? 
Practically  none,  and  what  is,  of  poor  quality.  Other 
minerals?  I  answer  this  by  saying  that,  except  in  a 
few  noted  instances,  the  country  is  poor  in  minerals, 
but  rich  in  prospects,  and  is  overrun  by  promoters 
and  schemers,  looking  for  good  things  in  which  to  in- 
duce their  friends  to  invest  money. 

Are  these  mountains  covered  with  timber?  No, 
only  brush  and  scrub,  where  not  barren.  Only  a  very 
small  amount  of  timber  in  Mexico,  which  is  being  cut 
rapidly,  and  this  means  that  in  a  few  years  the  coun- 
try, will  be  entirely  depleted,  so  that  the  people  have 


16  MEXICO. 

always  gotten  along  with  very  little  timber,  a  recent 
experience  to  a  great  portion  of  the  world  besides, 
and  a  lesson  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
cannot  take  to  heart  too  soon. 

Building-stone?  No;  these  rocks  are  not  fit  for 
permanent  structures,  and  houses  built  of  them  must 
be  kept  plastered  both  outside  and  inside  to  preserve 
the  walls.  I  saw  but  one  granite  building,  of  stones 
of  small  dimensions,  and  heard  of  granite  at  but  one 
place. 

Solidified  volcanic  mud,  called  by  a  name  as  if  pro- 
nounced tipytaty,  is  used  to  a  small  extent  for  build 
ing ;  but  the  great  material  for  housebuilding  is  "  doby," 
sun-baked  bricks  moulded,  or  rather  cut,  from  a  black, 
consistent  surface  mud. 

Burned  bricks,  on  account  of  scarcity  of  fuel,  are 
not  made. 

With  the  statement  that  the  mountains,  as  one  pro- 
ceeds south,  generally  become  less  and  more  numer- 
ous, I  dismiss  this  part  of  my  description  for  the  pla- 
teaus, concerning  which  I  need  only  add  that,  until 
one  gets  well  within  the  tropics,  they  are  mostly  bar- 
ren, or  nearly  so,  producing,  at  best,  only  a  thin  growth 
of  native  grasses,  cacti,  thorns,  etc. 

The  soil  ordinarily  is  only  a  few  inches  in  thickness, 
and  underneath  is  a  stratum  of  calcareous  formation, 
impervious  to  water,  and  of  greatly  varying  thickness, 
from  a  few  inches  to  many  feet,  and  below  this  is  a 
stratum  of  sand  of  some  solidity,  but  can  only  geo- 
logically be  called  rock,  which  I  judge  is  impervious 
to  water  also,  and  varies  from  a  few  inches  to  hundreds 
of  feet  at  one  place,  as  I  observed,  where  it  cropped 
out  on  the  side  of  a  mountain.  I  have  wondered  if 


DESCRIPTIVE.  17 


this  sand  stratum  is  the  homologue  of  the  "old  red," 
perhaps  too  much  written  about  by  Hugh  Miller. 

Water  is  scarce,  except  in  the  rainy  season,  when 
everything  is  flooded.  I  forded  the  largest  river  in 
the  country  during  the  dry  season,  or  winter,  and  it 
was  not  knee-deep. 

I  should  not,  however,  close  this  rambling  account 
of  what  may  be  seen  on  the  surface  in  Mexico,  with- 
out mentioning  the  only  active  volcano,  Colima,  on 
the  west  coast,  and  the  two  extinct  ones  to  be  seen 
from  the  City  of  Mexico,  but  which  nobody,  not  even 
those  living  in  the  city,  call  by  name. 

I  have  read  in  ancient  poetry  about  certain  gods  of 
awful  name;  and  these  extinct  volcanoes  seem  to  be 
in  the  same  category.  Perhaps  I  might  find  a  reason  of 
my  own  for  their  peculiar  and  unpronounceable  names, 
and  will,  therefore,  try  my  hand  at  mythological  fancy. 
I  will  call  the  one  mountain  Alta  (high)  and  the  other 
Altilla,  his  wife,  which  we  will  call  feminine  of  Alta, 
and  imagine  them  gods. 

Popocatapetl  and  Iztaccihuatl,  first  called  Alta  and 
Altilla,  were  gods,  and  joined  in  matrimonial  bands. 
Having,  what  could  not  now  happen  in  that  blissful 
state,  a  difference  of  opinion,  they  began  a  heated 
discussion,  gurgling  with  such  hideous  roarings  as  to 
drown  the  voice  of  Mars,  who  can  bellow  louder  than 
ten  thousand  bulls,  emitting  also  more  fire  than  light- 
ning at  Jove's  command,  and  raising  more  smoke  than 
Hell,  so  that  these  gods,  jealous  at  being  outdone, 
summoned  Night  to  cast  Darkness  around  Alta  and 
Altilla,  and  place  white  caps  on  their  heads,  Ether  to 
touch  their  eyelids,  and  Somnus  to  bind  them  in  chains 
of  Slumber,  condemning  them  to  that  state  forever, 


18  MEXICO. 

and  changing  their  designations  to  the  unspeakable 
appellations  they  now  bear,  so  that  no  one  thence- 
forth could  speak  their  names,  which  has  proved  such 
a  salutary  warning  to  all  gods  and  men,  that  no  like 
dispute  has  ever  since  arisen,  and  has  ushered  in  the 
reign  of  Connubial  Bliss,  who  has  since  held  undis- 
puted sovereignty  over  the  conjugal  tie. 

This  fable  might  be  entitled  How  STRIFE  CEASED 
AND  PEACE  BEGAN,  and  might  be  of  such  general  appli- 
cation that  I  will  ask  The  Hague  papers  to  please  copy ; 
and,  in  addition  to  its  furnishing  a  diplomatic  sugges- 
tion, might  not  be  altogether  unsuited  for  domestic 
advice  also. 

For  the  benefit  of  our  many  poets,  the  following 
version  is  given  : 

POPOCATAPETL   AND    IZTACCIHUATL. 

These  names,  too  awful  for  the  scale  of  rhyme, 
Are  lost  eternal  to  the  voice  of  Time ; 
Though  Alta  and  Altilla  were  their  boast, 
When  they,  as  gods,  adorned  the  heavenly  host. 
In  matrimonial  bands,  by  nature  joined, 
To  peace  and  quiet  were  their  days  confined; 
But  Disputation,  by  Opinion  sent, 
Unbridled  Temper,  and  Confusion  lent. 
In  gurglings  loud,  the  voice  of  Mars  they  quell, 
And,  breathing  smoke,  defy  the  powers  of  Hell; 
Emitting  fire,  the  bolts  of  Jove  conceal, 
And  stand  unrivaled  in  the  commonweal. 
Jove,  Mars  and  Hell,  on  deep  resentment  bent, 
To  sable  Night  a  hasty  summons  sent, 
With  Darkness  to  encompass  them  around, 
And  chains  of  Slumber  bind  them  to  the  ground. 
Such  awful  warnings  have  the  gods  assigned 
To  gods  immortal  and  to  human  kind, 
That  disputations  shall  forever  cease, 
And  bliss  connubial  evermore  increase. 


DESCRIPTIVE.  19 


Having  just  given  a  poetical  version  of  a  mythologi- 
cal fable,  my  mind  is  forcibly  called  to  the  custom, 
having  all  the  force  of  error,  if  not  misrepresentation 
even,  indulged  by  too  many  writers,  when  handling 
a  great  subject,  where  the  sense  of  judgment  seems  to 
be  overpowered  by  the  force  of  imagination  inspired 
by  outward  sublimity  or  inward  feeling,  when  poetic 
fancy  takes  the  place  of  practical  thoughts,  elevating 
the  mind  to  the  skies,  instead  of  keeping  the  body 
dragging  hard  upon  the  earth. 

I  know  that  no  such  contagion  will  spring  from  my 
attempt,  but  I  am  not  so  sure  about  the  work  of  an- 
other to  be  just  now  noticed. 

I  have  a  supreme  admiration  of  Prescott  as  a  his- 
torian and  as  a  man,  and  this  emboldens  me  to  call 
attention  to  the  error  in  which  he  unfortunately  fell 
in  giving  way  to  the  inspirations  of  poetic  fancy  in 
entering  upon  his  "Conquest  of  Mexico."  After  giv- 
ing the  general  physical  features  of  the  country,  he 
proceeds : 

After  passing  some  twenty  leagues  across  this  burn- 
ing region  [the  tierra  caliente  or  hot  country  of  the 
Gulf  coast],  the  traveler  finds  himself  rising  into  a 
purer  atmosphere.  His  limbs  recover  their  elasticity. 
He  breathes  more  freely,  for  his  senses  are  not  now 
oppressed  by  the  sultry  heats  and  intoxicating  per- 
fumes of  the  valley.  The  aspect  of  nature,  too,  has 
changed,  and  his  eye  no  longer  revels  among  the  gay 
variety  of  colors  with  which  the  landscape  was  painted 
there.  The  vanilla,  the  indigo,  and  the  flowering  cacao- 
groves  disappear  as  he  advances.  The  sugar-cane 
and  the  glossy-leaved  banana  still  accompany  him; 
and,  when  he  has  ascended  about  four  thousand  feet, 
he  sees  in  the  unchanging  verdure,  and  the  rich  foliage 
of  the  liquid- amber  tree,  that  he  has  reached  the  height 


20  MEXICO. 

where  clouds  and  mists  settle,  in  their  passage  from 
the  Mexican  Gulf.  This  is  the  region  of  perpetual 
humidity;  but  he  welcomes  it  with  pleasure,  as  an- 
nouncing his  escape  from  the  influence  of  the  deadly 
vomito.  He  has  entered  the  tierra  templada,  or  tem- 
perate region,  whose  character  resembles  that  of  the 
temperate  zone  of  the  globe.  The  features  of  the 
scenery  become  grand,  and  even  terrible.  His  road 
sweeps  around  the  base  of  lofty  mountains,  once 
gleaming  with  volcanic  fires,  and  still  resplendent  in 
their  mantles  of  snow,  which  serve  as  beacons  to  the 
mariner,  for  many  a  league  at  sea.  All  around  he 
beholds  traces  of  their  ancient  combustion,  as  his  road 
passes  along  vast  tracts  of  lava,  bristling  in  the  in- 
numerable fantastic  forms  into  which  the  fiery  torrent 
has  been  thrown  by  the  obstacles  in  its  career.  Per- 
haps, at  the  same  moment,  as  he  casts  his  eye  down 
some  steep  slope,  or  almost  unfathomable  ravine,  on 
the  margin  of  the  road,  he  sees  their  depths  glowing 
with  the  rich  blossoms  and  enameled  vegetation  of 
the  tropics.  Such  are  the  singular  contrasts  presented, 
at  the  same  time,  in  this  picturesque  region! 

Still  passing  upward,  the  traveler  mounts  into  other 
climates,  favorable  to  other  kinds  of  cultivation.  The 
yellow  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  as  we  usually  call  it, 
has  continued  to  follow  him  up  from  the  lowest  level; 
but  he  now  first  sees  fields  of  wheat,  and  the  other 
European  grains,  brought  into  the  country  by  the 
Conquerors.  Mingled  with  them,  he  views  the  plan- 
tations of  the  aloe  or  maguey  (agave  Americana), 
applied  to  such  varied  and  important  uses  by  the  Az- 
tecs. The  oaks  now  acquire  a  sturdier  growth,  and 
the  dark  forests  of  pine  announce  that  he  has  entered 
the  tierra  fria,  or  cold  region,  the  third  and  last  of  the 
great  natural  terraces  into  which  the  country  is  di- 
vided. 

This  only  lacks  reality  to  make  it  real;  and  I  am 
glad  I  am  not  the  first  to  observe  the  error.  The 


DESCRIPTIVE.  21 


quotation  is  long,  but  I  give  the  complete  picture,  as 
imaginative,  poetic  and  great  as  the  mind  which  con- 
ceived it,  and  as  beautiful  as  the  most  sublime  de- 
scriptive passages  in  Homer,  where  it  can  justly  find 
a  comparison;  but,  in  these  ecstacies  of  imagination, 
what  becomes  of  the  fact? 

Sometimes  authors,  of  dull  imagination,  feeling  a 
pressure  from  without  instead  of  from  within,  intro- 
duce their  works  with  a  poetic  quotation,  to  serve  as 
a  sort  of  keynote,  to  give  pitch  or  elevation  to  their 
song;  and  sometimes,  also,  authors  of  great  abilities, 
like  Prescott,  in  the  burst  of  enthusiasm,  when  enter- 
ing upon  their  subject,  weave  the  thread  of  their  own 
poetic  fancy  into  the  narrative. 

Had  Prescott  written  an  introduction  to  his  "Con- 
quest," and  there  delivered  himself,  in  a  tentative 
manner,  of  his  poetic  fancies,  he  would  have  done 
better  than  himself,  because  no  other  could  do  better 
than  he  has  so  nobly  done. 

Lack  of  capacity  or  attainment,  producing  envy,  is 
the  most  fruitful  source  of  criticism ;  and,  under  other 
circumstances,  I  would  be  praising  instead  of  cen- 
suring; but  my  purpose,  notwithstanding,  is,  to  give 
more  of  fact  and  less  of  fancy  than  has  heretofore 
ordinarily  been  done  about  Mexico. 

The  desert  has  ever  been  the  land  of  enchantment; 
Arabia,  Lybia,  Mexico,  are  almost  synonyms  for  poetry, 
oracle,  and  religion;  and,  while  we  are  pleased  to  give 
our  fancy  wing,  yet  we  should  never  forget  that  only 
thin  air  sustains  its  flight,  with  a  very  solid  earth  be- 
neath. 

The  plains  or  plateaus  of  Mexico,  though  often  ap- 
parently barren,  have  a  small  amount  of  grass,  which 


22  MEXICO. 

will  support  a  limited  number  of  animals;  sometimes, 
in  small  areas,  they  are  covered  with  a  good  growth 
of  grass  more  than  a  foot  in  height ;  but,  most  generally, 
buffalo-grass  prevails,  which  grows  only  a  few  inches 
tall.  On  the  assumption  that  all  parts  of  the  earth 
should  be  put  to  their  appropriate  use,  these  plains 
could  be  given  to  pasturage,  which  is  done;  and,  on 
account  of  the  lack  of  any  possible  supply  of  water  in 
most  places  for  irrigation,  they  never  can  be  put  to 
any  other  use. 

In  the  Rocky  Mountain  district  of  the  United  States, 
the  Great  Basin  to  the  west,  and  a  border  of  200  or 
300  miles  to  the  east,  we  find  a  scope  of  country  much 
like  Mexico,  where  agriculture,  without  irrigation,  is 
mostly  a  failure. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  great  craze  for  land 
of  the  last  few  years  has  been  the  cause  of  the  settling 
up  of  a  large  portion  of  this  district.  "Plow  up  the 
ground,"  say  the  land  agents,  "and  the  rains  will  fol- 
low," but  the  government  records,  kept  for  twenty 
or  thirty  years,  show  no  increase  in  the  mean  annual 
rainfall  in  that  region. 

What  actually  does  happen  is,  that,  prior  to  the 
breaking  up  of  the  virgin  soil,  where  creation  left  it 
solidly  packed,  rain  quickly  drained  off;  but,  when 
the  soil  has  been  loosened  by  cultivation,  it  soaks  in 
and  stays.  Thus  the  same  amount  of  rain  does  an 
increased  amount  of  good,  and  utility  is  mistaken  for 
quantity. 

I  have  seen  people  breaking  up  and  turning  under 
the  native  grass  in  a  disintegrated  granite  soil,  which 
swallows  water  more  readily  than  a  bed  of  sand,  and 
this,  too,  where  the  mean  annual  rainfall,  as  deter- 


DESCRIPTIVE.  23 


mined  by  Government  register,  is  only  about  nine 
inches. 

These  poor,  unfortunate  people  had  been  enticed 
there  by  the  avidity  of  the  railroads,  for  revenue,  and 
the  land  agents,  for  commissions;  the  railroads  and 
the  land  agents  join  in  the  perfidy  of  false  advertise- 
ments, which  I  have  seen  displaying  pictures  of  stately 
trees,  fruitful  orchards,  waving  grain  and  flowering 
meads,  and  even  broad  rivers,  bearing  the  barks  of 
commerce,  have  been  shown,  where,  in  truth,  deso- 
lation reigns  supreme. 

Manifestly  not  yet  have  all  the  crimes  of  greed  found 
a  name  or  a  punishment. 

These  semi-barren  plains  should  never  be  broken  up ; 
the  native  grasses  should  be  preserved  for  pasture, 
because,  when  once  killed  out,  they  will  never  again 
reclaim  the  ground;  and,  what  is  now  a  source  of  in- 
come, though  small,  will,  by  attempted  cultivation, 
become  a  barren  waste. 

Passing  now  to  minerals  and  mines,  I  made  inquiry 
about  the  mines  of  Zacatecas,  visiting  some  and  see- 
ing others  from  a  distance,  as  I  climbed  to  the  top  of  a 
high  mountain  near  the  city,  where  I  could  get  a  view 
of  the  whole  country;  and  could  learn  of  only  two 
working,  with  results  unknown,  while  all  the  others 
were  merely  prospects,  or  were  either  standing  idle, 
or  had  been  entirely  abandoned,  some  very  many 
years  ago. 

From  the  top  of  this  mountain,  I  saw  another  of  a 
red-brown  color  close  by,  entirely  bare  of  all  vege- 
tation, which  I  supposed  to  be  due  to  copper,  making 
it  a  copper  mountain,  in  fact,  but  with  only  enough 
to  give  color  to  itself  and  its  prospect-holes. 


24  MEXICO. 

I  also  explored  an  outcropping  of  what  I  took  to 
be  a  silver-bearing  stratum  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in 
thickness,  but  the  grade  was  very  low. 

Such  things  as  these  furnish  food  for  fancy  and 
sources  of  speculation. 

"The  inexhaustible  mineral  wealth"  of  Mexico  has 
been  profoundly  modified  in  the  minds  of  many  an 
American  and  European  speculator;  but,  so  long  as 
this  idea  prevails,  tinctured  with  all  the  delusions  of 
tradition,  nothing  short  of  a  severe  shock  is  sufficient 
to  change  the  mental  impression  of  the  existence  of 
mines  with  veins  of  solid  silver  three  feet  thick.  I  see 
in  a  book  of  some  respectability,  that  the  mines  of 
Zacatecas  have  produced,  from  their  discovery  to  the 
present  time,  $10,000,000,000  of  silver.  Everyone 
will  recognize  the  utter  falsity  of  this  claim,  upon  the 
mere  statement. 

Authors,  guilty  of  such  gross  exaggerations,  should 
not  be  excused  by  admirers  of  fact;  but  we  are  not 
obliged  to  stand  on  our  own  conclusions;  because, 
at  another  place  in  his  book,  the  same  author  gives 
the  total  output  of  all  Mexico  to  the  present  time  as 
$4,000,000,000;  and  I  will  do  him  the  justice  to  quote 
both  from  his  book : 

MINES  AND  MINING. — This  subject  may  be  treated 
in  one  word,  silver.  It  is  everywhere,  in  every  state, 
in  every  hill  and  mountain.  It  is  probable  that  the 
total  production  of  silver  in  Mexico,  since  the  opening 
of  the  mines  to  date,  would  reach  $4,000,000,000. 
[This  is  on  page  14  of  his  book.] 

Silver  was  discovered  in  1546  by  Juan  de  Tolosa, 
and  so  rich  were  the  mines  that  the  place  became  a 
city  in  1585  by  decree  of  Philip!  U,  and  from  1548 
to  1810,  the  product  of  the  mines  was  nearly  $10,000,- 


DESCRIPTIVE.  25 


000,000;  since  that  time  the  output  has  not  been  so 
great.  [The  place  referred  to  is  Zacatecas,  on  page 
266  of  the  same  book.] 

At  no  age  of  the  world  has  man  ever  been  frank  or 
truthful  respecting  mines  of  the  precious  metals;  and 
the  above  quotations  show  that  this  author  is  not  even 
consistent. 

Whatever  other  charge  may  be  brought  against  me 
for  what  I  have  said  on  any  subject  respecting  Mexico, 
I  want  to  say  in  advance,  that  I  have  not  tried  to  mis- 
lead. My  facts,  I  own,  are  often  uncertain;  but  I 
give  them  as  I  got  them,  relying  on  the  good  sense  of 
my  reader,  after  knowing  their  source,  to  judge  for 
himself;  and  rumor,  sometimes,  suits  me  better  than 
fact,  because  my  chief  object  respects  the  religious, 
moral,  political  and  social  conditions  of  the  people. 

One  has  as  many  accounts  of  Mexico  as  he  has  au- 
thors, in  illustration  of  which,  I  quote  below  what  is 
said  respecting  iron  by  two  well-known  authors,  both 
bearing  the  reputation  of  authenticity : 

The  use  of  iron,  with  which  the  soil  was  impreg- 
nated, was  unknown  to  them  [the  aborigines].  Not- 
withstanding its  abundance,  etc. 

There  is  little  iron,  except  at  Durango,  where  there 
is  a  mountain  of  it  that  is  from  seventy-five  to  ninety 
per  cent  of  pure  metal.  [Durango  is  beyond  the  bor- 
ders of  Anahuac,  and  could  not  have  been  in  the  mind 
of  the  first  author  quoted.] 

And  I  quote  the  same  authors  respecting  gold : 

Gold,  found  on  the  surface,  or  gleaned  from  the 
beds  of  rivers,  was  cast  into  bars,  or,  in  the  form  of 
dust,  made  part  of  the  regular  tribute  of  the  southern 
provinces  of  the  empire  [the  empire  of  the  Mexicans]. 

Gold  exists  in  small  quantities. 


26  MEXICO. 

I  might  extend  the  list,  but  think  this  should  suffice 
to  show  the  condition  of  the  literature  on  the  subject. 

I  see,  by  a  table  giving  the  assessed  valuation,  by 
states,  of  all  the  property  in  the  country,  that  the 
grand  total  is  $409,318,296,  or  equal  to  considerably 
less  than  half  the  profits  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
for  ten  years  last  past,  as  recently  made  public;  so 
that  that  company,  by  applying  its  profits  for  the  pur- 
pose for  less  than  five  years,  might  buy  the  entire 
Republic  of  Mexico. 

Compare  these  figures,  $409,318,296,  the  assessed 
valuation  of  all  the  property  in  the  entire  country, 
with  the  $4,000,000,000,  given  as  the  value  of  the  sil- 
ver produced  from  the  discovery  to  the  present  time, 
and  you  see  a  relation  of  about  1  to  10,  so  that  you 
must  conclude  that  the  people  have  squandered  ten 
times  the  value  of  their  country ;  and,  if  you  take  the 
figures  of  $10,000,000,000,  as  representing  the  value 
of  the  output  of  the  silver  mines  of  Zacatecas  alone, 
you  see  the  relation  is  as  1  to  25,  not  including  the 
remainder  of  the  output,  all  of  which  would  make  the 
proportion  as  1  to  35. 

Between  two  falsehoods,  discard  both. 

We  are  now  enjoying  unprecedented  prosperity  of 
our  own;  but  here,  as  always,  the  greatness  of  wealth 
is  not  keeping  pace  with  the  immensity  of  extrava- 
gance, so  that  we  view,  with  regret,  our  inability  to 
emulate  Mexico  in  setting  a  gait  in  which  not  even 
our  own  best-speeded  thoroughbreds  can  go.  Most 
of  us  can  squander  our  patrimonial  estates  only  once; 
but  here  is  our  Mexican  sister,  who  has  reached  the 
35th  time  in  hers,  and  is  still  in  it.  I  think,  there- 
fore, that  all  effort  on  our  part  at  emulation  of  the 


DESCRIPTIVE.  27 


sway  of  our  southern  sister  should  cease;  that  we 
should  get  out  of  the  game  as  soon  as  possible;  and, 
that,  acknowledging  our  defeat  in  sensuality,  we 
should  now  turn  sophist. 

As,  in  a  description,  the  City  of  Mexico  cannot  be 
separated  from  the  basin  in  which  it  is  located,  nor 
this  from  the  surrounding  mountains,  nor  the  whole 
from  the  people,  both  modern  and  ancient,  nor  these 
from  their  history,  nor  this  from  its  mournful  reflec- 
tions, nor  the  grand  total  of  all,  from  its  relations  to 
time  and  the  race,  I  present  this  matter  here,  pref- 
aced by  a  statement  of  the  general  plan  of  laying  out 
and  building  towns  and  cities  in  that  country.  I 
think,  also,  that  towns  and  cities,  as  regards  their 
kind  and  extent,  belong  most  properly  in  the  de- 
scriptive account  of  a  country,  while  the  means  or 
manner  of  building  them,  as  regards  the  performance 
of  the  work  itself,  would  better  be  embraced  within 
the  industrial,  if  an  exact  or  extended  classification 
were  to  be  made,  a  thing  which  will  be  observed  to  be 
absent  from  my  work. 

While  the  large  cities,  such  as  Mexico  and  Guadala- 
jara, in  their  principal  parts,  are  laid  out  with  rectan- 
gular, or  nearly  rectangular,  streets,  and  in  the  best 
portions  the  structures  are  separate  buildings,  yet  in 
the  poor  quarters  of  these  cities,  as  well  as  in  all  the 
small  towns  and  cities,  the  ancient  plan  is  adhered  to, 
where  the  structures  are  all,  or  nearly  all,  but  one 
story  high,  with  continuous,  irregular  and  tortuous 
walls  forming  the  sides  of  corresponding  streets,  some- 
times half  a  mile  or  more  in  length  without  a  turnout 
or  cross-street,  leading  from  and  to  a  square,  which 
is  the  center  of  the  town.  These  walls  form  the  fronts 


28  MEXICO. 

of  the  buildings,  and  are  provided  with  doors,  but 
less  frequently  windows,  except  in  the  business  por- 
tion. Where  the  town  is  laid  out  into  blocks,  these 
walls  inclose  them  like  a  fortress,  continuous  on  all 
sides,  with  the  habitations,  as  I  prefer  to  call  them 
rather  than  houses,  built  up  against  these  walls  on  the 
inside,  and  the  central  court  thus  formed  is  used  in 
common  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  block  or  fortress. 

The  older  part  of  the  City  of  Mexico  is  built  after 
the  method,  so  common  in  Mexico,  of  inclosing  a 
square  central  court  with  a  building  having,  what  we 
would  call  porches  in  this  country,  on  the  inside  in- 
closure.  These  buildings  are  usually  but  one  story 
high,  except  in  the  business  portion  of  the  city,  where 
they  are  two  and  sometimes  three  stories  high.  I  do 
not  remember  seeing  any  buildings  of  this  construc- 
tion four  stories  high,  because  the  poorness  of  the  build- 
ing material  makes  high  structures  altogether  unsafe, 
unless,  as  is  the  case  with  the  churches,  the  walls 
should  be  made  extremely  thick.  These  inclosed 
courts,  in  the  business  portion  of  the  city,  are  usually 
paved  with  stones,  and  are  for  the  use  of  the  tenants 
of  the  building;  but,  in  the  residence  portions,  these 
courts  are  gardens  of  flowers  and  trees,  often  of  very 
great  beauty  and  magnificence,  and  are,  likewise,  for 
the  use  of  the  tenants  of  the  surrounding  apartments. 

In  the  poor  quarters,  these  inclosures  are  sometimes 
quite  extensive,  the  inclosing  house,  presenting  the 
appearance  of  a  broad  wall  around  them,  with  a  main 
entrance  at  the  center  of  one  of  the  sides,  and  the 
doors  from  each  apartment,  usually  of  but  one  room, 
opening  into  the  court,  so  that  the  whole  thing  has 
the  appearance  of  an  immense  beehive,  which,  in  fact, 


DESCRIPTIVE.  29 


it  is,  of  human  bees,  swarming  in  great  numbers 
through  each  door.  The  windows,  usually  absent, 
but,  if  any,  open  into  the  court  also;  and  the  outside 
of  this  building  or  square  presents  a  solid  and  con- 
tinuous wall  except  the  main  entrance,  which  has  a 
heavy  door  or  gate,  kept  locked  at  night,  with  some- 
body sleeping  against  it  on  the  inside,  making  it  im- 
possible for  anybody  to  enter,  without  waking  him. 
This  is  a  real  fortress. 

This  style  of  architecture  came  from  Spain,  where 
it  had  been  brought  by  the  Moors,  who  blessed  western 
Europe  with  learning  also,  but  who  were  later  cruelly 
driven  out ;  and,  now,  on  the  other  shore  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, are  defending  themselves  against  European 
encroachment. 

Here  is  another  lesson  on  the  fate  of  empire  as  de- 
termined by  human  oppression;  but  the  honors  are 
either  divided  or  easy;  and  the  case  wholly  beyond 
my  present  purpose. 

The  new  postoffice,  recently  completed,  is  the  only 
modern  structure  in  the  older  portion  of  the  city,  but 
others  are  in  course  of  construction. 

That  portion  of  the  city  toward  Chapultepec,  the 
combined  White  House  and  West  Point  of  Mexico,  is 
partially  modern,  and  all  the  way  to  Chapultepec,  on 
either  side  of  a  recently-constructed  boulevard,  called 
the  Paseo  de  la  Reforma,  modern  resident  houses  are 
occupying  the  space,  and  this  is  going  to  be  the  city, 
in  fact,  in  time,  so  that  those  who  want  lots  should 
buy  now,  before  the  advance  in  the  price  still  'urther. 

Along  this  boulevard,  the  people  have  constructed 
many  monuments  commemorating  their  history,  and 
doing  credit  to  their  patriotism. 


30  MEXICO. 

Continuing,  in  a  straight  line,  beyond  Chapultepec, 
one  comes  to  Tacubaya,  formerly  the  gambling  resort 
for  the  city,  but  that  business  is  now  carried  on  up- 
town; business,  I  guess  I  should  call  it,  because  it 
occupies  a  great  deal  of  most  people's  time,  in  one 
form  or  another,  both  in  and  out  of  both  church  and 
state,  as  I  have  seen  it  rolling  high  in  many  churches ; 
and,  I  see,  by  the  History  of  France,  where  Colbert, 
minister  of  finance  to  Louis  XIV,  had  furnished  that 
monarch  four  hundred  thousand  livres  for  gambling 
on  a  single  trip,  which  he,  of  course,  lost,  although, 
at  that  very  time,  the  French  peasants,  in  many  places, 
were  subsisting  on  the  roots  of  grass  and  herbs  and  the 
bark  of  trees. 

Such  is  history,  and  such  was  France  then.  I  make 
this  digression  to  warn  the  Government  of  Mexico, 
that  it  is  not  yet  too  late  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the 
people;  but  it  will  not  heed,  as  no  like  warning  has 
ever  been,  or  ever  will  be,  taken. 

The  City  of  Mexico  is  well  laid  out,  the  streets  in- 
tersecting at  right  angles,  or  nearly  so,  on  which  is 
operated  a  very  extended  and  very  excellent  system 
of  railways,  radiating  from  a  common  center,  and  some 
of  them  extending  to  suburbs  at  long  distances. 

I  rode  the  length  of  every  line  in  the  city,  and  I 
doubt  if  this  can  be  said  of  anybody  else  who  ever 
visited  Mexico,  or,  indeed,  if,  outside  of  employe's, 
the  same  can  be  said  of  anybody  at  all.  I  wanted  to 
see  the  city,  and  I  took  the  right  as  well  as  the  quickest 
and  cheapest  way  to  do  so. 

One  must  also  walk  to  see  the  world  rightly;  so  I 
walked,  not  only  through  the  city,  but  from  the  center 
of  the  city  to  the  mountains  around,  selecting  the 


DESCRIPTIVE.  31 


nearest,  which  was,  nevertheless,  still  quite  a  journey; 
and  I  climbed  up  the  mountain  sufficiently  far  to  get  a 
good  view  of  the  city  and  the  valley,  where  I  sat  down 
to  rest,  and  called  up,  in  imagination,  one  after  another, 
the  great  spirits  who  had  made  this  region  famous,  and 
communed  with  them, — the  Aztecs,  the  Chichemecs, 
the  Toltecs,  and  on  back,  through  long  lines  of  illus- 
trious and  unknown  races,  to  the  morning  of  the  world. 

Among  these  groups,  great  characters  appeared, 
but  I  could  discern  only  the  name  of  Montezuma, 
all  others  being  either  illegible  or  entirely  gone.  Time 
had  erased  those  at  the  greatest  distance,  but  the  fires 
kindled  by  the  Spaniards  had  destroyed  those  of  more 
recent  date. 

The  fires  of  hell,  fed  by  the  Spaniards  in  two  worlds, 
have  destroyed  in  either  more  than  the  value  of  the 
whole  Spanish  nation  in  all  its  history;  nay,  if  I  had 
the  Aztec  manuscripts  heaped  together  in  Mexico  and 
burned  by  the  Spaniards,  I  would  not  give  them  to 
insure  the  eternal  soul's  salvation  of  all  Spaniards, 
dead,  living,  and  to  be.  I  do  not  want  to  belittle 
the  value  of  a  soul ;  but  I  want  to  say,  in  my  estimation, 
how  great  was  the  crime  of  the  Spaniards.  This  crime 
becomes  all  the  more  appalling  when  we  know  that 
the  chief  reason  for  consigning  these  books  to  the  flames, 
was  forever  to  blot  out  the  facts  of  history,  lest  they 
should  give  the  lie  to  the  authority  of  systems.  This 
is  the  highest  crime  that  collective  man  ever  perpe- 
trated ;  and  here,  as  always,  committed  in  the  sacred 
name  of  religion. 

What  might  we  not  have  learned  from  these  books? 
raises  an  inquiry  more  insupportable  than  positive 
ignorance. 


32  MEXICO. 

Interesting  volumes,  descriptive  of  a  metropolitan 
city,  such  as  Paris,  London,  or  New  York,  might  be 
written,  and  the  life  and  character  of  its  people  would 
make  another  volume,  still  more  interesting,  which 
could  be  followed  up  with  one  on  its  history  generally ; 
but  while  the  City  of  Mexico  bears  little  relation  in 
size  to  Paris,  London,  or  New  York,  yet  it  contains, 
perhaps,  near  300,000  people,  although  the  claim,  as 
is  usual  nowadays,  is,  that  it  contains  many  more. 

The  City  of  Mexico  is  the  capital  of  Mexico,  and  the 
metropolis  of  the  country  to  which  it  bears  a  closer 
relation  than  Paris  to  France,  London  to  England, 
or  New  York  city  to  the  United  States.  The  history 
of  France,  aside  from  the  court,  is  written  largely 
outside  of  Paris;  London  cuts  little  figure  in  the  his- 
tory of  England,  not  even  being  the  seat  of  the  court ; 
and  New  York  city,  as  respects  the  general  history 
of  the  United  States,  is  altogether  insignificant;  but 
the  City  of  Mexico,  as  elsewhere  stated,  in  territorial 
and  governmental  importance,  is  comparable  with 
Babylon,  Egyptian  Thebes,  and  Rome,  which  names 
not  only  stand  for  the  country,  but  also  for  the  gov- 
ernment as  well. 

Now,  I  am  afraid,  I  should  become  wearisome,  if  I 
should  undertake  more  than  a  sketch  of  the  basin 
in  which  the  City  of  Mexico  is  located,  with  its  lakes, 
supplied  by  rains,  and  fed  by  mountain  streams,  some 
of  which  come  from  the  regions  of  eternal  snow,  form- 
ing a  complete  rampart  writh  its  towers,  as  if,  by  na- 
ture, constructed  to  defend  this  enchanted  garden; 
how  the  mind  becomes  entranced,  when  one  stands 
on  a  mountain,  viewing  the  scene  below,  the  windings 
of  the  streams,  the  expanse  of  the  lakes,  the  cultivated 


DESCRIPTIVE.  33 


fields,  the  magic  movement  of  railway  trains,  and, 
above  all,  gives  way  to  that  grand  and  inspiring 
emotion  so  akin  to  terror,  when  one  discerns  the  great 
city,  formerly  the  seat  of  grandeur  of  the  Montezumas, 
and  that  other,  once  the  ancient  and  polished  capital 
of  Tezcuco,  when  thoughts,  too  profound  for  words, 
fill  the  brain  and  burst  the  heart,  when  tears  are  the 
only  expression  of  the  soul,  only  to  be  succeeded  by 
indignation  and  rage,  impelling  one  to  rush  down  the 
mountain,  strike  the  Spaniards  right  and  left,  until 
he  has  exterminated  them  from  the  earth,  avenged 
Montezuma,  and  "Remembered  the  Maine!" 

On  the  same  day,  looking  from  the  valley  up  to  the 
mountains,  one  may  see  them  draw  near  with  the  se- 
verity of  telescopic  distinctness;  early  in  the  day, 
clouds  begin  to  gather  round  the  breast  of  the  extinct 
volcanoes,  and  hide  the  heads  of  the  lesser  mountains, 
condensing  until  a  complete  lid  is  formed  over  the 
basin,  enabling  one  to  draw  a  contour  line  of  elevation 
around  the  entire  valley  against  the  mountains ;  thun- 
ders sometimes  roll  in  deep  intonations;  but,  at  other 
times,  "the  silent  tempest"  is  poured  upon  the  moun- 
tains, to  be  seen  when  the  clouds  have  lifted ;  at  sunset, 
the  clouds  break  up  into  many-hued  masses  of  gold, 
silver  and  turquois,  reflecting  their  tints  to  both  moun- 
tains and  valley,  like  brave  sons  endeavoring  to  pro- 
long the  glories  of  a  departing  ancestor,  but  to  be  soon 
shrouded  in  the  mystery  of  darkness;  the  mountains 
of  the  west  cast  their  lengthening  shadows  across  the 
valley,  which  soon  ascend  and  overtop  the  mountains 
of  the  east;  only  the  extinct  volcanoes  on  the  south, 
gowned  and  capped,  reposing  in  that  eternal  slumber 


34  MEXICO. 

from  which  the  first  ray  of  morning  and  the  last  of 
declining  day  can  never  wake  them,  remain  visibly 
distinct;  but,  in  turn,  lose  their  outline,  so  that  their 
snowy  summits  look  like  white  clouds  in  the  sky; 
only  a  thread  of  gold  now  borders  the  western  horizon, 
already  going  to  pieces,  and  disappearing;  but  a  dull 
radiance  lingers  in  the  west,  as  if  the  day  were  dying 
hard;  the  waves  of  the  distant  Pacific,  like  the  last 
effort  of  departing  hope,  throw  back  the  glimmer  of 
light  from  the  western  skies;  and  now  darkness, 
darkness,  darkness,  end  of  both  day  and  hope;  but 
soon  the  glories  of  the  east  rekindle  both  day  and  hope ; 
and  we  live  and  hope  again.  The  world  is  but  a  day, 
and  a  day,  the  world. 

With  some  observations  on  the  effect  of  altitude, 
I  will  close  the  descriptive  chapter. 

During  the  latter  part  of  January,  1907, 1  left  Topeka, 
Kansas,  an  altitude  of  about  1000  feet,  arriving,  in 
two  days,  at  Zacatecas,  Mexico,  a  short  distance 
within  the  tropics,  an  altitude  of  about  8000  feet.  The 
weather  at  Topeka  was  then  unusually  mild,  with  a 
temperature  about  equal  to  that  of  Zacatecas,  so  that 
I  do  not  have  a  difference,  or,  at  least,  a  material  dif- 
ference, in  temperature  to  consider ;  but  the  difference 
in  humidity  was  considerable,  the  air  at  Zacatecas 
being  very  much  dryer  than  at  Topeka.  During  the 
daytime  at  Zacatecas,  I  felt  fairly  comfortable;  but, 
at  night,  neither  clothing  nor  spirits  produced  bodily 
warmth,  a  condition  to  be  appreciated  only  by  ex- 
perience. I  did  not  have  the  benefit  of  artificial  heat, 
as,  in  no  part  of  Mexico,  is  that  necessity  available, 
because  of  the  poverty  of  the  people  and  the  lack  of 


DESCRIPTIVE.  35 


a  local  supply  of  fuel.  Discomfort  would  express  my 
bodily  feeling  the  first  night,  but  no  word  short  of 
misery  is  forcible  enough  for  the  second,  as  I  was  suf- 
fering intense  pain  over  my  entire  dermal  surface, 
which,  however,  disappeared  with  the  second  night; 
and  I  had  no  recurrence  of  it  during  my  stay  in  any 
part  of  the  country,  not  even  again  at  Zacatecas,  where 
I  returned  in  several  weeks  after  being  at  a  lower  al- 
titude. 

What  I  will  call,  in  myself  at  least,  the  sensation  of 
altitude,  such  as  I  always  experience  for  a  day,  on 
going  from  Topeka  to  Colorado  to  an  altitude  of  5000 
feet  or  6000  feet,  a  slight  blurring  of  vision,  dimin- 
ished audition,  but,  above  all,  a  peculiar  unsteadiness 
of  equilibrium,  not  altogether  explicable  by  the  word 
dizziness,  produced  by  a  feeling  of  cerebral  expansion, 
either  by  too  great  a  blood  supply  within,  or  the  re- 
duction of  atmospheric  pressure  without,  as  well  as 
that  general  tactile  impression,  which,  for  want  of  a 
word  expressive  of  its  true  character,  I  will  call  ting- 
ling, I  did  not  experience  at  all,  doubtless  because  the 
gradual  and  long  ascent  gave  sufficient  time  for  the 
adjustment  of  my  bodily  mechanism  with  natural 
conditions. 

Five  thousand  feet  to  eight  thousand  feet  above 
sea-level  is  no  great  elevation  at  which  to  live,  although 
its  influences  are  very  perceptible  to  those  suddenly 
ascending  from  sea-level  or  within  about  1000  feet 
of  sea-level.  The  first  impulse  is  for  increased  physical 
activity;  one  desires  to,  and,  actually  does,  run; 
then  succeeds  a  mental  activity  producing  gaiety, 
laughter,  loquaciousness;  then  increased  hunger  and 
thirst;  early  waking  and  late  retiring,  sleeplessness, 


36  MEXICO. 

with  a  rapid  pulse  accompanying;  various  modifica- 
tions of  all  the  senses;  and,  lastly,  the  reaction,  the 
depression. 

How  like  intoxication!  I  mean  the  intoxication  we 
have  seen ;  and  this,  indeed,  is  its  true  explanation. 

The  greatest  elevation  I  ever  attained  was  the  sum- 
mit of  Pike's  Peak,  after  remaining  at  an  elevation  of 
about  5000  feet  until  the  sensation  of  elevation  there 
had  disappeared;  but,  strange  to  me,  the  sudden  as- 
cent, in  an  hour,  from  about  5000  feet  to  14,147  feet, 
produced  no  apparent  effect. 

For  effects  occurring  at  the  extreme  heights  of  moun- 
tain-climbers of  18,000  feet  to  19,000  feet,  I  must  refer 
to  the  writings  of  Humboldt  and  others,  as  well  as  to 
"  Leaves  from  an  Aeronaut,"  if  access  to  more  authentic 
literature  is  not  to  be  had,  as  this  is  not  within  my 
experience. 

Now,  I  will  state  what  I  think  is  the  cause  of  all 
this:  The  immediate  effects  are  mechanical,  produced 
by  the  diminution  of  atmospheric  pressure,  causing 
an  increased  activity,  first  of  the  peripheral  nerves, 
thence  centrally,  accelerating  the  heart's  action. 

If  we  know  certainly  that,  by  the  pricking  of  a  single 
pin  causing  pain,  we  can  increase  the  heart-beats,  on 
principle  I  conclude  that  a  general  peripheral  influence, 
though  short  of  actual  pain,  is  the  correct  explanation 
of  the  cause  of  the  rapid  pulse  of  high  altitudes. 

Following  the  direct  mechanical  influence  of  eleva- 
tion by  diminished  atmospheric  pressure,  I  place  the 
humidity  of  the  atmosphere  as  the  second  operating 
cause. 

I  had  been  living  at  an  altitude  of  about  1000  feet, 
where  the  atmosphere  is  of  that  degree  of  humidity 


DESCRIPTIVE.  37 


as  produces  sufficient  precipitation  for  the  growing 
of  the  cereals,  the  grasses,  and  the  fruits  of  the  tem- 
perate zone.  At  Zacatecas,  I  was  about  8000  feet 
above  sea-level,  where  no  moisture  had  been  precipi- 
tated for  three  or  four  months,  and  where,  during  even 
the  rainy  season  in  the  tropics,  but  little  rain  falls. 
The  air  was  intensely  dry,  and,  at  night,  cold,  but  too 
dry  for  frost.  By  the  second  day  I  had  dried  out  like 
a  starched  garment  on  the  line.  The  cold  air,  no 
longer  kept  at  a  respectful  distance  by  dermal  exu- 
dation, pressed  directly  upon  my  dry  cuticle,  which,  in 
turn,  pressing  upon  my  nerve-ends,  or  tactile  corpus- 
cles, as  the  anatomists  say,  produced  discomfort  first, 
then  pain;  but  the  adjustment,  the  accommodation, 
soon  came  to  my  relief. 

The  corresponding  decrease  of  temperature  with  in- 
crease of  altitude  must  also  be  considered  in  arriving 
at  general  results;  but  this  has  relation,  almost  en- 
tirely, to  permanent  effects  in  the  growth,  develop- 
ment and  life  of  both  vegetables  and  animals;  and  is, 
therefore,  a  matter  for  exact  scientific  observations 
and  experiments,  which  are  beyond  my  reach,  as  well 
as  purpose. 

My  hope,  in  these  articles,  is,  that  I  may  be  able  to 
keep  up  a  lively  interest  in  the  narrative  portion  by 
cutting  it  short,  omitting  tiresome  details,  which, 
though  engaging  to  the  writer  by  reason  of  his  per- 
sonal experience,  are  always  rubbish  to  the  reader, 
and  then  to  draw  practical,  scientifical,  political  or 
social  conclusions,  as  the  case  may  be. 

I  will,  therefore,  continue:  On  the  same  spot  or 
surface,  I  feel  comfortable,  normal,  which,  in  reality, 
is  the  absence  of  all  sensation,  hot  or  cold,  pleasure 


38  MEXICO. 

or  pain,  to  which  I  will  add  the  numbness  of  pathologi- 
cal conditions,  heat  and  cold  being  but  divisions  of  the 
temperature  sense,  and  pleasure  and  pain  of  the  sense 
of  touch. 

I  can  now  proceed  to  the  statement  of  the  question : 
Are  all  these  varied  and  different  sensations  conveyed 
to  the  brain  in  the  same  channel,  along  the  same  course, 
by  the  same  means,  or  has  each  its  separate  instru- 
mentality ? 

As  anatomists  have  not  yet  developed  the  fact, 
novices  may  speculate. 

We  first  learn  that  we  have  five  senses — sight,  hear- 
ing, smell,  taste,  touch;  and,  later,  we  read  about 
the  temperature  sense,  the  muscular  sense,  the  sense 
of  pain,  and  so  on ;  and  that  each  of  these  has  its  special 
nerves,  until  we  wonder  where  we  may  find  a  place  to 
stop  in  this  differentiating  process;  but  I  would  favor 
taking  the  other  course,  not  extreme,  I  hope,  and  re- 
duce everything  to  unity;  that  all  impressions,  in  the 
largest  sense  of  that  word,  becoming  perceptions,  are 
cognized  by  the  sense  of  touch,  and  that  the  sense  of 
touch  is  the  only  one  we  have,  all  others,  so  called,  be- 
ing but  modifications  for  accommodation. 

Enlarging  on  this  idea,  I  am  a  firm  believer  that  rea- 
son will  ultimately  reduce  all  things  to  unity,  whether 
of  force  or  of  entity  merely  is  beyond  my  purpose  now 
to  pursue ;  but  I  hope  my  reader  may  have  the  pleasure 
of  following,  in  imagination,  the  bright  path  of  fancy, 
if  not,  by  induction,  the  highway  of  reason,  to  that 
which  must  ultimately  be  regarded  as,  at  once,  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  all  things. 

Space,  or,  more  restrictedly,  direction,  or,  still  more, 
location,  is  cognizable  by  all  the  senses,  and  herein 


DESCRIPTIVE.  39 


is  unity.  The  same  original  protoplasmic  substance, 
under  varied  influences  and  circumstances,  has  been 
differentiated  into  specializations  for  the  purpose  of 
accommodation,  the  adaptation  of  structure  and  func- 
tion to  conditions,  not  structure  and  function  pro- 
ducing conditions. 

Hereon  has  been  waged  the  strongest  controversy 
of  scientific  times,  which  has  occupied  much  of  my 
valuable  time  to  read  but  a  small  portion,  never  once 
reflecting  that  even  among  children  I  never  heard 
any  doubt  expressed  or  argument  maintained  as  to 
the  motor  element  in  the  combination  of  cart  and 
horse. 

What  I  have  heretofore  said  has  reference  specially 
to  the  immediate  bodily  effects  of  altitude ;  if  I  should 
now  pursue  the  subject  in  its  permanent  effects  upon 
the  growth,  development  and  life  of  the  body,  I  would 
be  obliged  to  write  a  long  chapter  on  Anthropology; 
if  I  should  turn  to  its  influence  on  mind,  I  would  be 
invading  Philosophy;  if,  to  its  deteriorating  effects, 
I  would  be  poaching  on  the  doctors'  domains,  which 
are  guarded  so  closely  and  jealously  as  to  keep  out 
even  those  who  would  replenish  the  game. 

I  will,  however,  notwithstanding,  say  something  on 
all  these  phases  of  the  subject  incidentally  in  connec- 
tion with  other  parts  of  my  story. 

If,  again,  I  should  undertake  to  say  anything  of 
the  effect  of  altitude  on  vegetation,  in  general,  or 
plant  life,  in  particular,  even  though  I  should  keep 
closely  to  my  own  experiences  and  observations,  I 
would  have  to  start  over  again,  and  write  another 
book;  but,  in  order  to  complete  my  outline,  I  will 
give  a  few  instances  only,  by  way  of  illustration,  hav- 


40  MEXICO. 

ing  a  particular  bearing  upon  the  parallel  between 
altitude  and  latitude  in  the  creation  of  zones. 

Tournefort,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  in  ascend- 
ing Mt.  Ararat,  discovered,  for  the  first  time,  to  the 
world,  the  existence,  at  different  elevations,  of  zones 
of  vegetable  life  corresponding  with  those  to  be  met 
with  in  passing  from  the  equator  to  the  poles ;  but  this 
is  a  correspondence  with  a  distinction,  and,  almost, 
with  a  difference. 

I  have  seen  the  mature  strawberry  from  the  20th 
to  the  50th  parallel  of  north  latitude;  at  the  20th, 
soft,  elongated,  watery,  glucose,  pink;  at  the  50th, 
hard,  round,  dry,  saccharine,  purple;  and,  between 
these  latitudes,  all  gradations. 

I  have  likewise  followed  it  from  sea-level  at  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  ripe  in  March,  to  an  altitude  of  11,000  feet 
in  Colorado,  ripe  in  September;  at  the  gulf,  soft,  oval, 
watery,  sour,  crimson;  at  11,000  feet,  hard,  bell- 
shaped,  dry,  tasteless,  yellowish;  and,  likewise,  also, 
between  these  elevations,  all  gradations. 

In  southern  Mexico,  on  the  plateaus,  I  saw  willows 
ten  to  twelve  feet  in  diameter;  in  Canada,  dwindled 
to  isolated  bright  yellow  twigs,  and  I  have  read  of 
them  as  far  north  as  the  70th  parallel. 

At  sea-level,  near  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  willow  is 
an  ordinary-sized  tree;  while,  in  the  highest  altitudes, 
or  about  9000  feet,  in  Colorado,  where  I  have  seen  it 
grow,  it  is  a  rod,  scarce  one  inch  in  diameter  and  not 
ten  feet  high,  thickly  clustered  together  like  a  bunch 
of  grass. 

The  mighty  oak,  at  its  best,  I  think,  between  the 
35th  and  40th  parallels  north,  becomes  tougher, 
smaller  and  deformed  south,  but  always  entitled  to 


DESCRIPTIVE.  41 


the  dignified  name  of  tree;  while  north,  although  for 
a  long  distance  maintaining  its  stature  as  a  tree,  be- 
comes brittle,  then  small,  until  the  shrub,  or  "scrub," 
as  we  say,  is  reached. 

As  one  ascends  from  sea-level,  the  oak  passes  through 
all  gradations  of  its  zone,  until  its  highest  elevations 
in  Colorado,  where  I  have  seen  forests  of  it  but  a 
few  inches  in  height,  and  the  trunks,  slender  as  a  straw, 
having  only  one,  two  or  three  immensely  large  leaves, 
and  seldom  more  than  one  overgrown  acorn.  I  have 
uprooted  these  trees,  and  find  them  supported  by 
roots  three  or  four  feet  long  and  an  inch  thick. 

Now,  you  see  that  increase  of  elevation  does  not 
entirely  correspond  with  progression  of  latitude. 
Difference  in  air-pressure,  humidity,  heat,  sunlight, 
must  all  be  taken  into  the  question. 

So  much  for  the  effect  of  altitude,  and  incidentally 
its  comparison  with  latitude. 


CHAPTER  II. 
INDUSTRIAL. 

In  a  country,  where  the  people  follow  such  a  primi- 
tive mode  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  extreme  poverty, 
but  little  can  be  said  on  the  industrial  features,  as 
their  absence  is  the  most  noticeable  thing  about  them. 

The  advent  of  railroads  into  Mexico  broke  the 
monotony  of  hundreds  of  years  of  existence  rather 
than  life  following  the  Spanish  conquest.  Between 
that  conquest  and  the  advent  of  the  railroads,  the 
Spaniards  and  their  descendants,  after  murdering  a 
large  number  of  the  people,  and  subduing  the  others, 
took  from  them  the  whole  country,  parceling  it  out 
among  themselves,  and  domiciling,  on  their  private 
domains  or  haciendas,  thus  obtained,  that  portion  of 
the  populace,  escaping,  in  the  wars  of  the  conquest, 
from  death  at  the  hands  of  the  most  despicable  of 
men. 

On  these  haciendas,  the  people  first  lived  as  the 
absolute  slaves  of  the  masters  of  the  domains,  as  I 
cannot  call  the  occupancy  of  the  Spaniards  either 
possessory  or  proprietary;  afterward  the  system  of 
peonage  was  established,  which,  I  was  informed,  had 
been  abrogated  in  1885,  where  men  rendered  personal 
services  in  discharge  of  an  obligation  from  which,  in 
view  of  the  manner  of  procedure,  they  could  never 
free  themselves,  a  system,  I  think,  in  its  results,  more 

[42] 


INDUSTRIAL.  43 


demoralizing  than  absolute  slavery,  as  it  removed 
the  responsibility  of  ownership  from  the  master,  by 
withdrawing  from  the  man  his  protection  and  care, 
thus  throwing  upon  the  man  all  the  responsibilities 
of  life,  without  any  means  to  meet  them. 

In  portions  of  the  United  States,  at  this  time,  the 
negro  population  is  handled  by  a  system,  having  all 
the  force  of  peonage,  where,  overwhelmed  with  an 
ever-increasing  debt,  their  personal  labor  is  applied, 
in  vain,  against  its  extinguishment,  and  they  are  thus 
hopelessly  involved  in  financial  ruin  from  which  death 
alone  can  ever  relieve  them. 

The  white  tenantry,  let  me  say  it  loudly,  in  portions 
of  the  United  States,  are  also  getting  themselves  in 
these  same  toils,  with  the  same  sad  fate  ahead. 

This  system  is  more  advantageous  to  the  land- 
owner than  chattel  slavery,  because,  here,  the  land- 
owner, in  the  capacity  of  master,  takes  all  the  earnings 
of  the  man,  resulting  from  his  great  efforts,  which,  he 
imagines,  are  for  himself;  and  the  master  is  relieved 
even  of  the  responsibilities  of  ownership;  whereas,  if 
the  master  had  a  proprietary  interest  in  the  man,  and 
the  man  knew  he  was  a  slave,  his  efforts  would  be  weak, 
and  his  "work  non-productive  and  unprofitable  to  the 
master. 

I  make  this  statement,  not  in  the  hope  that  slavery 
may  be  re-instituted,  but  to  show  how  despicable  is 
the  present  situation  of  affairs. 

The  advent  of  the  railroads  in  Mexico,  as  elsewhere 
stated,  marked  the  beginning  of  the  emancipation  of 
these  poor  people;  and  the  railroads  will  be  the  means 
of  eventually  completing  their  amelioration;  but  they 
are  now  in  that  transitional  state,  between  slavery 


44  MEXICO. 

and  freedom,  where  all  the  distresses  of  their  former 
condition  are  added  to  the  misfortunes  of  their  present 
state.  This  is  that  transition  period  always  the  most 
trying  in  the  lives  of  individuals  as  well  as  nations; 
where  responsibilities  arise,  without  the  means  of 
meeting  them;  where  the  individual  and  the  public 
mind  are  alike  in  suspense  between  regret  and  hope; 
where  the  distresses  of  the  new  situation  seem  greater 
than  the  evils  of  the  past;  and  where  the  doubts  for 
the  future  discourage  the  action  of  the  present. 

The  future  of  these  people,  I  am  afraid,  is  not  very 
bright;  but  their  condition  is  getting  better;  and,  I  | 
entertain  the  hope,  that  I  may  live  to  see  the  day, 
when  poetic  justice  will  be  practically  done,  because  I 
am  not  a  believer  in  the  ethereal,  nor  yet  in  the  reality 
of  eternal  retribution,  which  may  defer  decision  beyond 
the  life  of  the  individual  as  well  as  of  the  race. 

Coming  now  from  the  general  view  of  the  life  of  the 
Mexicans,  as  affects  the  destiny  of  the  race,  I  descend  to 
particulars,  which  will  sound  more  like  an  account  of 
their  domestic  life  than  a  statement  of  how,  on  the 
scale  employed  by  us,  they  provide  for  their  daily 
wants,  which  is  the  meaning  of  industrial,  as  applied  by 
me  in  this  chapter ;  and,  how  they  supply  themselves 
with  clothing,  food  and  shelter  will,  for  a  short  time, 
engage  our  attention. 

As  food  is  the  first  requirement  of  man,  and  as  agri- 
culture is  the  chief  occupation  in  Mexico,  I  will  first 
give  an  account  of  what,  of  utility,  grows  there,  and, 
in  passing,  the  manner  of  performing  the  work. 

No  effort  will  .be  made,  in  the  largest  sense,  to  say 
what  grows  in  Mexico,  because  anyone,  needing  that 
information,  will  find  the  proper  source  in  scientific 


INDUSTRIAL.  45 


works  and  government  reports ;  but  I  will  attempt  to 
give  a  few  facts,  without  technicalities,  and  without 
even  trying  to  dignify  the  subject  with  the  word  "  flora," 
except  to  say  that  I  hope  Flora  will  never  find  out 
what  dead  names  we  have  given  to  the  sweet  objects 
of  her  care;  and,  I  imagine,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  she  is  a  native  of  Italia,  she  would  be  altogether 
lost,  if  she  chanced  upon  a  catalogue,  in  our  Latin, 
of  the  flora  even  of  her  own  country. 

I  will,  also,  caution  that  scientific  works,  except  to 
the  initiated,  and  government  reports,  except  to  those 
who  otherwise  know,  are  often  misleading,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  unintelligible  nomenclature  and  the 
great  number  of  species  usually  given,  but  more  es- 
pecially by  reason  of  the  lack  of  proper  information 
as  to  the  relative  importance  of  those  catalogued. 

To  illustrate,  I  will  give  a  quotation  from  Dr.  Kane's 
account  of  the  island  of  Disco,  on  the  west  coast  of 
Greenland,  at  latitude  70°  north : 

The  arctic  turf  is  unequaled ;  nothing  in  the  tropics 
approaches  it  for  specific  variety;  and,  in  density, 
it  far  exceeds  its  Alpine  congener.  Two  birches,  three 
willows,  that  noble  heath,  the  Andromeda,  the  whortle- 
berry, the  crowberry,  and  a  potentilla  were,  in  one  in- 
stance, all  wreathed  together  in  a  matted  sod,  from 
whose  intricate  network,  rising  within  an  area  of  a 
single  foot,  I  counted  no  less  than  six  species  of  flower- 
ing plants. 

In  a  ravine,  back  of  the  settlement,  the  washings  of 
the  melted  snow  had  accumulated,  in  little  escalades 
or  terraces,  a  scanty  mould,  rich  with  arctic  growths. 

The  mosses,  which  met  the  lichens  at  a  sort  of  neutral 
ground  between  rock  and  soil,  were  particularly  rich. 
So  sodden  were  they  with  the  percolating  waters  that 
you  sank  up  to  your  ankles.  Nestling  curiously  under 


46  MEXICO. 

their  protecting  tufts  rose  a  complete  parterre  of  tinted 
flowers  consisting  of  gentians,  ranunculus,  ledum,  draba, 
potentilla,  saxifrages,  poppy,  and  sedums. 

Surely  the  real-estate  agents  have  overlooked  this; 
and,  if  I  am  the  cause  of  putting  that  island  on  the  mar- 
ket for  settlement,  by  offering  all  the  advantages  of 
cheap  lands  and  high  products,  I  hope  that  the  enter- 
prising dealers,  thus  profiting,  will  kindly  remember 
me,  at  least  to  the  extent  of  letting  me  in  on  the  ground 
floor  for  a  large  block  of  the  stock  at  par,  before  the  ad- 
vance, so  that,  in  my  old  age,  I  may  paper  at  least  one 
room  with  beautifully-engraved  certificates  of  stock. 

Upon  the  same  grounds,  do  I  recommend  emigration 
to  Mexico,  having  the  same  hope  to  be  kindly  remem- 
bered by  those  profiting  by  my  suggestion. 

Approximately  speaking,  all  without  the  tropics  in 
Mexico  is  barren,  or  nearly  so,  excepting  always,  of 
course,  the  irrigated  districts  along  the  streams,  which 
are  few  and  far  between,  granting  barren  to  have  its 
ordinary,  and  not  its  absolute,  meaning,  because  a 
plain,  having  only  a  little  native  grass,  a  few  thorny 
shrubs,  much  or  little  cactus,  and  no  running  water, 
is,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation,  barren.  This  describes 
two-thirds  of  the  country,  or  all  that  lying  outside  the 
tropics,  and  much  of  that  within. 

Wheat  grows  to  advantage  only  on  irrigated  land; 
and,  in  all  places  where  I  saw  it  on  other  land,  a  failure, 
or  nearly  a  failure,  was  the  result.  The  time  of  sowing 
is,  what  we,  in  the  United  States,  call  the  fall ;  the  time 
of  reaping  is  our  midwinter;  the  product,  from  a  few 
to  a  few  bushels  per  acre,  never  escaping  the  designation 
of  few;  the  quality,  poor  to  rejected;  the  berry,  long, 
slender  and  flinty;  the  flour,  dark  and  harsh;  the 


INDUSTRIAL.  47 


bread,  all  biscuit,  as  the  flour  cannot  be  handled  in 
loaves.  Not  enough  wheat  is  grown  in  the  country 
at  present  for  home  comsumption,  and  large  quantities 
are  imported  from  the  United  States. 

Rye,  I  saw  but  a  very  few  acres ;  and,  as  I  am  speak- 
ing only  of  gross  results,  will  count  it  out  altogether. 

Barley  is  grown  to  a  limited  extent;  and,  as  it  is 
very  short,  is  harvested  by  pulling  it  up  by  the  roots  by 
hand,  and  packing  it  in  rope  nets. 

Oats,  not  grown  at  all. 

Corn  is  the  great  staple  of  the  country,  as  it  can  be 
grown  on  upland  without  irrigation:  I  saw  but  one 
attempt  to  grow  it  on  irrigated  land,  and  there  the 
stalks  were  spindly,  more  than  twenty  feet  high,  and 
not  an  ear ;  but,  on  the  upland,  where  the  best  results 
are  obtained,  it  grows  a  little  taller  than  ordinarily 
in  the  United  States,  with  a  more  slender  stalk,  having 
a  small  ear,  usually  about  four  inches  in  length,  and  of 
corresponding  diameter;  the  grains,  long,  shriveled, 
loose  on  the  cob,  and  becoming  worm-eaten  soon  after 
maturity,  as  is  the  case  with  corn  in  all  southern  coun- 
tries. The  poorest  corn  I  saw  would  make  about  two 
bushels  per  acre,  the  best  about  twelve,  with  seven  or 
eight,  perhaps,  as  the  average  yield.  It  is  all  cut  and 
shocked,  and  some  of  it  afterward  stacked,  or  stowed 
away  in  the  branches  of  trees,  presenting  the  appear- 
ance of  an  immense  bird's-nest.  During  the  winter 
and  spring,  it  is  husked,  shucked,  snipped,  picked, 
gathered,  the  name  depending  upon  what  part  of  the 
country  you  hail  from ;  and  is  always  shelled  and  sacked 
for  marketing.  So  much  for  the  cereals. 

Of  hay,  cut  from  wild  grass,  I  saw  but  a  few  stacks, 
probably  less  than  one  hundred  tons,  although  I  was 


48  MEXICO. 

told  of  one  place,  on  one  of  the  railway  lines  leading 
from  the  City  of  Mexico  to  the  Gulf,  where  it  was 
abundant.  Buffalo  most  largely,  bunch,  and  several 
other  kinds  which  I  had  never  before  seen,  and  of 
which  I  could  learn  no  name,  make  up  the  grasses. 
Timothy  and  clover,  I  saw  none;  kaffir-corn,  none; 
sorghum,  none;  alfalfa,  that  great  gift  to  the  world 
in  recent  times,  grows  perennially  on  irrigated  ground. 
So  much  for  the  hay  and  feed  producers. 

Potatoes  vary  in  size  from  a  hulled  hickorynut  to  a 
hulled  black  walnut;  sweet  potatoes  grow  well;  tur- 
nips and  carrots,  small ;  tomatoes,  very  small  and  bit- 
ter; onions,  any  sizes  and  styles,  the  year  round; 
peppers,  peppers,  peppers;  strawberries,  the  year 
round,  at  one  place  only;  the  other  common  berries, 
I  saw  nor  heard  of  none. 

A  variety  of  other  small  fruits,  bearing  about  the 
same  relation  there  as  our  groundcherry,  Mayapple, 
sarvis,  haw,  pawpaw,  persimmon,  etc.,  and,  indeed, 
some  identical  in  all  but  the  name,  should  be  mentioned ; 
but  they  have  mostly  that  sickish,  sweetfsh  taste,  so 
familiar  in  the  Mayapple  and  pawpaw ;  and,  I  imagine, 
the  less  one  eats  of  them,  the  more  secure  may  he  con- 
sider his  health.  So  much  for  the  vegetables  and  small 
fruits. 

A  few  varieties  of  the  common  apple  grow  very 
poorly;  crabapples  produce  a  ripened,  wormy  crop; 
peaches  and  apricots  do  well;  and  I  was  told  a  few 
pears  and  plums  were  grown;  cherries,  I  saw  none. 
And  so  much  for  the  fruits  proper. 

That  I  may  not  weary,  let  me  hastily  mention  the 
orange,  in  widely-scattered  localities,  but  of  a  quality 
that  would  not  sell  in  competition  with  the  products 


INDUSTRIAL.  49 


of  California  and  Florida;  I  saw  no  acid  lemons, 
which  we  use  in  making  lemonade,  but  abundance  of 
sweet  ones;  bananas,  small  and  dry,  of  about  one- 
third  the  ordinary  size ;  a  small  amount  of  coffee,  dry, 
tasteless  and  odorless;  sugarcane,  along  the  streams, 
where  it  can  be  well  irrigated,  in  the  tierra  caliente. 

I  must  mention  what  we  ordinarily  call  the  century- 
plant,  when  we  see  it  in  hot-houses  in  the  United 
States,  but  called  by  its  native  name  maguey,  which, 
still,  as  in  the  days  before  the  Conquest,  produces 
clothing,  food  and  drunks,  but  less  of  the  former  two 
and  more  of  the  latter,  now  than  then.  Its  fermented 
sap  or  juice  is  called  pulque,  or  Mexican  beer,  having 
somewhat  the  taste,  to  me,  of  thin,  over-sour  butter- 
milk. Distillations  are  obtained  from  its  roots,  called 
mescal  and  tequila,  tasting,  to  me,  also,  I  must  say, 
as  one  might  imagine  a  mixture  of  pure  alcohol  and 
Scotch  whisky  would,  having  the  fire  of  the  alcohol 
and  the  smoke  of  the  Scotch.  Some  people,  to  whom 
I  have  made  this  statement,  have  denied  knowledge 
of  what  either  alcohol  or  Scotch  whisky  is  like;  and, 
if  any  of  my  readers  are  so  innocent,  also,  and  still 
have  a  curiosity,  they  can  find  out,  without  being 
either  indiscreet,  or  violating  their  pledge,  by  taking 
a  shovelful  of  green  hickory  or  sour  oak  coals,  just  as 
they  are  giving  off  their  densest  cloud  of  smoke,  and 
swallow  them.  This  experiment  will  furnish  a  genuine 
substitute  for  the  original. 

This  illustration  is  very 'appropriate,  also,  with  re- 
spect to  the  whisky  of  our  prohibition  States;  and  I 
gladly  give  temperance  lecturers  the  permission,  not- 
withstanding my  copyright,  to  use  it,  even  without 
acknowledgment. 


50  MEXICO. 

Cotton,  in  small  acreage  on  irrigated  land,  I  men- 
tion, also;  and  tobacco,  for  home  consumption,  a  few 
acres  on  each  hacienda. 

Only  the  southern  portion  of  Mexico  can,  in  any 
sense,  be  said  to  be  tropical.  The  elevation  is  so  high 
as  to  give  to  the  generality  of  the  country  a  temperate 
climate,  which  is  not,  however,  of  the  same  variety, 
called  temperate  in  the  United  States.  The  west 
coast-line  pitches  precipitously  into  the  ocean;  and, 
while  a  strip  of  lowland  borders  the  gulf  and  the  sea 
on  the  east,  yet  it  is  subject  to  almost  the  same  con- 
ditions of  moisture  as  the  tablelands ;  and  the  northers 
sometimes  sweep  down  along  the  gulf-coast  in  winter 
with  such  severity  as  to  drive  the  tropical  birds  to  the 
interior,  producing  winter  effects  even  as  far  south  as 
Vera  Cruz. 

Having  thus  briefly  given  an  account  of  what  of 
domestic  utility  and  commercial  value  grows  in  Mexico, 
I  will  now  make  a  few  observations  respecting  the 
migrations  of  man,  who,  often,  living  in  his  own  good 
home,  with  plenty,  if  not  a  superfluity,  with  intelli- 
gent children,  a  contented  wife,  kind  neighbors  and 
many  friends,  sells  his  home  at  a  sacrifice,  and  emi- 
grates to  the  uncertainties  of  a  new  or  unknown  coun- 
try, should  be  actuated  by  the  most  powerful  reasons; 
yet,  this  is  the  true  wave  of  emigration  now  in  prog- 
ress from  the  East  to  the  West,  letting  in  Europe 
behind  it,  so  that  the  eastern  portion  of  the  United 
States  is  no  more  American,  but  European,  both  as  to 
population  and  customs,  thus  establishing,  in  this 
country,  the  institutions  from  which  our  forefathers 
fled,  who  so  bravely  established  their  liberties  here 
at  the  cost  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure. 


INDUSTRIAL.  51 


O  shade  of  Washington,  wilt  thou  not  be  propitious 
unto  us!  Since  all  other  warnings  have  failed,  wilt 
thou  not  lift  up  thy  hand,  and  write  upon  the  sky, 
that  we  may  yet  take  warning?  And  blot  out,  for- 
ever blot  out,  the  scrawlings  of  those  fools,  who  have 
chalked  their  names  above  the  sculpture  of  thy  own! 

If  we  do  nothing  to  break  the  force  of  this  wave, 
the  principles  for  which  the  Revolution  was  fought 
will  soon  be  remembered  only  on  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific,  where,  finding  their  limit,  they  may  some- 
time react  on  what  is  now  their  impelling  force. 

For  this,  we  have  history,  which  first  shows  us  the 
Celt  in  Asia  Minor,  who,  advancing  before  the  pressure 
of  the  great  Asiatic  wave,  at  last  found  a  lodgment 
in  the  northwestern  confines  of  Europe,  where,  by 
reason  of  the  ocean,  he  could  go  no  farther.  This 
wave  is  reacting,  and  the  Celt,  now  dominant  in  western 
Europe,  is  extending  his  influence  eastward;  but,  as 
the  wave,  reacting  from  the  shore,  is  never  so  great 
or  powerful  as  the  incoming,  which  it  must  soon  en- 
counter, the  result  is  easily  predicted,  because  social 
as  well  as  physical' dynamics  are  under  the  dominion 
of  the  same  law. 

Still  the  wind,  if  you  would  stop  the  wave.  Shut 
the  gates,  if  you  would  keep  out  the  tide.  These  are 
truths,  whether  physically,  socially  or  psychically 
considered. 

As  closely -connected  with  irrigation  and  the  trans- 
portation of  the  products  of  agriculture,  I  will  refer 
to  the  canals  and  aqueducts  of  the  country,  both 
ancient  and  modern. 

Before  the  Conquest,  and  for  time  beyond  record, 


52  MEXICO. 

Mexico  had  numerous  canals,  some  to  convey  water 
from  the  mountains  and  streams  to  irrigate  the  land, 
and  others  for  the  purposes  of  commerce.  La  Viga 
is  one  of  these  latter,  extending  from  the  City  of 
Mexico  to  the  lake,  thence  furnishing  a  waterway  to 
Tezcuco,  and  doubtless  of  great  importance  in  those 
ancient  times  as  a  means  of  transportation  between 
those  capitals. 

I  must  have  the  satisfaction  of  a  voyage  on  this 
canal,  and  I  embarked  in  a  boat  operated  by  a  native 
Mexican,  who  is  quite  talkative,  explaining  more  than 
I  ask  about ;  stopping  on  the  way,  he  takes  me  through 
a  large  flower  garden,  where  an  immense  bouquet  is 
cut  and  handed  me,  from  which,  looking  to  the  south, 
a  magnificent  view  of  the  mountains  of  eternal  snow 
is  to  be  had,  which  is  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  me 
with  the  delicious  experience  of  standing  in  the  midst 
of  flowers,  with  a  bunch  in  my  hand,  in  midwinter, 
and  looking  up  to  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow.  I 
do  not  have  time,  however,  to  stop  and  write  poetry, 
as  I  am  asked  to  proceed  to  a  building,  occupied  as  a 
residence  by  native  Mexicans,  but,  in  reality,  a  mu- 
seum, mostly  of  the  relics  of  that  ancient  people,  a 
large,  most  valuable  and  interesting  collection,  which 
I  took  to  be  that  of  some  individual  or  family.  I  was 
shown  through  this;  but,  as  everything  had  the  air 
of  privacy;  and,  as  the  sad  demeanor  of  the  matron 
of  the  place  impressed  me  with  the  feeling  that,  if 
here  is  not  a  representative  of  some  distinguished 
family  of  the  Ancients,  exhibiting  this  as  a  relic  to 
the  world  of  their  personal  loss  in  the  general  destruc- 
tion of  the  Conquest,  at  least,  she  is  thus  representing 
the  race;  and  this  made  me  feel  so  sad  also,  that  I 


INDUSTRIAL.  53 


did  not  have  the  heart  to  ask  any  questions;  but 
followed  her  mournfully  through  the  house,  as  if  view- 
ing the  precious  belongings  of  a  dear  and  deceased 
relative.  At  last,  we  came  to  the  exit,  and  I  was 
shown  a  large  book  in  which  1  was  invited  to  write 
my  name,  and  anything  else  which  came  to  mind; 
and  here  is  what  I  wrote : 

Yourselves,  your  wives,  your  long-descending  race 

May  every  god  adorn  with  every  grace ; 

Still  fixed  on  virtue  may  your  nation  stand, 

And  public  evil  never  touch  your  land !        (Homer,  Ody.) 

A.  A.  GRAHAM,  Topeka,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A. 

Returning  to  my  boat,  I  proceed  a  little  farther, 
then  return;  and,  as  I  sat  in  the  stern  of  the  boat, 
viewing  these  scenes  and  reflecting,  as  the  boatman 
pulled  heavily  along,  I  imagined  that  I  might  be  re- 
living, to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  the  life  on  these 
canals  in  the  year  5000  before  Adam,  because  this 
continent,  geologically  considered,  and,  I  suspect, 
anthropologically,  also,  is  the  Old  World,  and  not  the 
New ;  and  I  imagined  I  might  be  a  great  chief  of  those 
ancient  people  conveyed  along  this  historic  canal  by 
one  of  my  slaves;  and  instantly  I  reflect  how  human 
vanity  overrides  all  things,  even  those  for  which  I  had 
but  just  now  mourned. 

0  people,  never  trust  your  liberties  nor  delegate 
your  government  to  man,  but  always  exercise  your 
own  prerogatives! 

On  landing,  my  boatman,  having  learned,  during 
the  trip,  that  I  was  an  American,  asked  me,  in  addition 
to  the  hire  of  his  boat,  if  I  would  give  him  ten  cents 
extra  to  buy  a  glass  of  whisky,  which  I  did  with  great 


54  MEXICO. 

pleasure,  so  as  to  keep  up  the  reputation  of  my  coun- 
trymen abroad. 

As  I  can  give  only  the  briefest  reference  to  the 
ancient  and  modern  canals,  ditches  and  aqueducts 
for  the  conveyance  of  water  for  irrigating  the  land 
and  supplying  cities  and  towns,  I  must  refer  those 
desiring  an  extended  knowledge  of  this  wonderful 
system,  to  Prescott's  Conquest  of  Mexico,  and,  also, 
of  Peru;  and,  those  desiring  to  find  wonders  generally 
in  this  direction  may  read  up  about  Tadmor  or  Palmyra, 
in  Arabia,  now  in  ruins  also. 

The  cruel  and  savage  conquerors,  after  destroying 
everything,  as  far  as  they  could,  including  these  canals, 
set  about  in  after  years,  to  construct,  for  their  own 
glory,  stupendous  aqueducts,  none  of  which,  I  believe, 
are  now  in  use;  and  which  I  will  call,  as  their  ruins 
impressed  me,  monuments  of  extravagance  and  igno- 
rance. 

At  Zacatecas,  a  large  portion  of  one  of  these  great 
aqueducts  still  remains;  and  the  most  casual  glance 
will  show  anyone,  not  an  engineer,  how  the  same  re- 
sult could  have  been  easily  and  cheaply  attained. 
Seeing  this,  I  asked  a  gentleman,  familiar  with  its 
history,  about  this  method  of  construction,  and  he 
informed  me  that  the  engineer  adopted  this  plan  so 
that  his  name  might  be  connected  with  a  great  enter- 
prise, a  universal  human  weakness;  but,  that,  had  he 
adopted  the  sensible  course,  and  carried  the  ditch 
around  the  face  of  the  'slope,  the  work  would  have  been 
easily,  quickly  and  cheaply  performed. 

What  was  the  name  of  this  great  engineer  ?  Answer : 
As  his  monument  stamps  him  a  fool,  I,  perhaps,  would 
do  him  a  kindness  to  conceal  it. 


INDUSTRIAL.  55 


Had  the  amount  of  money  necessary  for  the  more 
costly  construction,  or  the  contracts  growing  out  of 
it,  anything  to  do  with  the  method  adopted?  An- 
swer: Now,  you  are  getting  too  personal,  curious  and 
impertinent,  and  I  will  not  answer  this  question  at  all. 

Ditches,  properly  so  called,  are  the  present  means 
for  carrying  water  for  irrigating  purposes,  and  the  sys- 
tem of  main  and  lateral,  as  now  commonly  employed, 
wherever  irrigation  is  done  on  a  large  scale,  is  here 
found;  and  the  modern  system  of  piping  supplies 
the  larger  cities,  while  the  smaller  cities  and  towns 
still  employ  the  most  ancient  means,  "the  carrier  of 
water.'5 

Sometimes  we  find  rivers  dammed,  and  their  entire 
waters  diverted,  and  spread  over  cultivated  lands; 
but,  most  generally,  the  work  is  not  so  extended,  a 
single  owner  being  the  proprietor  of  his  own  irrigating 
system. 

Wheat,  on  the  tablelands,  and  sugarcane,  in  the  tierra 
caliente,  are  the  great  crops  requiring  irrigation.  Al- 
falfa, here  perennial,  must,  also,  be  thus  provided  for, 
as  well  as  the  less  pretentious,  but  more  important 
gardening. 

The  people  raise  a  great  many  goats,  and  these  are 
the  most  important  animals  in  the  country,  and  are 
most  generally  used  for  slaughter.  The  meat  is  not 
good,  but,  then,  it  is  better  than  none.  Next  comes 
beef,  also  of  a  poor  quality,  and  usually  served  as  a 
stew;  then  pork  of  a  fairly  good  quality,  and  more 
plentiful  than  I  had  expected  to  find  it.  Fowls  do 
well,  and  chickens  and  eggs  are  the  meat  supply  of 
very  many. 


56  MEXICO. 

The  people  make  nearly  all  their  own  clothing. 
Those  who  do  not  go  barefoot,  make  for  themselves  a 
sandal  cut  from  sole-leather,  strapped  to  the  foot,  on 
which  they  wear  no  sock.  Since  our  own  customs 
are  changing,  I  feel  obliged  to  say,  in  order  to  be  prop- 
erly understood,  that  the  men  wear  pants  of  a  thin 
white  cotton,  without  an  undergarment;  and,  indeed, 
the  word  drawers  does  not  exist  in  the  languages  of 
Mexico.  On  their  body,  they  wear  a  short  jacket, 
blouse,  jumper,  roundabout,  or  waumus,  as  variously 
styled  in  the  United  States,  made  of  the  same  white 
cotton  stuff;  and  they,  sometimes,  enjoy  the  luxury 
of  a  shirt  of  the  same  material.  Their  hat,  sombrero, 
is  a  great  and  distinctive  work  of  art,  sometimes  of 
the  value  of  twenty  dollars  or  more,  and  often  that 
many  times  more  valuable  than  all  the  remainder  of 
their  apparel.  The  blanket,  used  by  both  sexes,  is 
ordinarily  of  a  coarse  weave  and  a  red  color,  serving  as 
a  wrap  by  day,  and  bed  and  bedding  by  night.  The 
women  dress  in  the  skirts  usual  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  some  of  them  wear  shoes  of  the  common  make, 
the  remainder  going  barefoot,  as  I  saw  none  wearing 
the  sandals;  some,  also,  wear  the  sombrero,  but  the 
usual  headdress  of  the  women  is  a  small  black  shawl. 
I  feel  obliged  to  mention  these  articles  of  wearing  ap- 
parel here,  because  they  are  all,  or  almost  all,  made  by 
the  people  themselves,  and  constitute  about  their  sole 
manufacturing  resources. 

I  stepped  into  the  house  of  a  blanket-weaver.  Here, 
on  the  ground,  one  on  either  side  of  the  entrance,  sat 
two  men,  one  of  them  blind,  carding  wool,  which  was 
taken  by  the  spinner,  and  drawn  into  coarse  threads 
and  wound  upon  a  spindle;  then  a  man  placed  the 


INDUSTRIAL.  57 


thread  upon  a  reel  from  which  he  prepared  the  bob- 
bins; while  the  man  at  the  loom  threw  the  shuttle. 

Man  surely  got  his  idea  of  the  Fates  from  such  a 
scene  as  this,  and  that  was  the  thought  which  came  to 
me  on  the  spot. 

I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  people  can  exist  in  a  cli- 
mate as  inhospitable  as  most  of  Mexico,  dressed  in  this 
manner.  On  my  trip  to  Panindicuaro,  elsewhere  de- 
scribed, a  poor  boy,  the  son  of  the  driver,  had  to  go 
along,  as  boys  have  a  propensity  for  driving;  and, 
at  times  of  the  day -when  I  was  cold  in  closely  buttoned 
winter  clothing,  this  lad,  with  nothing  but  a  straw  hat 
and  a  thin  cotton  waist  and  pants,  showed  no  signs  of 
discomfort.  While  I  had  no  use  for  him,  and,  in  fact, 
he  was  in  the  way,  as  boys  sometimes  are,  yet  I  paid 
him  fifty  cents  a  day  while  on  the  trip,  thinking  he 
would  use  the  money  in  providing  himself  some  cloth- 
ing; but,  no,  he  took  all  the  money  home,  where  he 
doubtless  found  a  use  for  it  more  pressing  than  pro- 
viding for  his  own  terrible  condition.  This  is  the  only 
money  he  ever  had,  and  he  was  very  careful  of  it; 
and,  for  myself,  I  am  sure  that  I  will  always  live  in  his 
mind  as  a  great  personage. 

I  have,  also,  seen  people  in  a  portion  of  the  United 
States,  dress,  with  the  exception  of  the  feet,  in  much 
the  same  way  as  the  Mexicans ;  and,  when  I  would  be 
shivering  with  the  cold,  although  heavily  dressed, 
they  would  appear  comfortable  in  only  enough  cloth- 
ing to  wad  that  proverbial  shotgun. 

I  remember  once,  traveling  through  the  mountains 
of  North  Carolina,  during  the  summer,  near  the  Ten- 
nessee line,  and,  perhaps,  I  was  in  Tennessee  at  the 
time,  because  I  do  not  want  to  appear  partial;  and, 


58  MEXICO. 

meeting  with  a  farmer,  I  began  to  talk  with  him  over 
the  fence,  asking  questions,  as  I  usually  do,  but  giving 
advice  only  when  people  ask  me,  and,  incidentally, 
pay  me.  After  making  myself  as  agreeably  pleasant 
as  I  knew  how,  I  asked  this  farmer  if  it  got  very  cold 
in  this  country  during  the  winter,  to  which  he  replied : 
"No,  if  you  have  a  right  smart  shirt,  a  pair  of  over- 
alls and  a  roundabout,  you  can  go  through  the  winter 
all  right,  and  in  any  kind  of  society." 

In  the  country,  the  Mexican  houses  in  the  higher 
altitudes  are  usually  built  of  sun-baked  bricks  of  large 
dimensions,  laid  up  without  mortar,  while,  in  the 
towns,  the  same  material  is  used  for  the  wall,  but 
plastered  outside  and  inside.  The  roof  is  usually 
earth,  and  is  sometimes  covered  with  a  coat  of  cement 
plaster;  but  in  the  lower  countries,  the  walls  of  the 
houses  are  often  nothing  more  than  a  stone  fence,  and 
the  roof  is  of  brush  and  grass ;  while  in  the  hot  country, 
the  houses  are  of  grass,  reeds,  sugarcane  and  corn- 
stalks. 

And  now  I  have  said  something  about  the  industries 
of  the  Mexicans  in  providing  themselves  with  clothing, 
food  and  shelter. 

Their  arts,  for  arts  they  have,  I  shall  mention  when 
I  come  to  speak  of  their  civilization,  as  a  more  appro- 
priate place  for  that  subject. 

On  going  into  the  country,  I  noticed  that  the  out- 
bound passenger  trains  were  very  much  more  crowded 
than  the  incoming,  and  this  condition  I  observed  dur- 
ing my  entire  stay.  I  saw  passenger  cars  containing 
as  many  as  two  hundred  Mexican  laborers  going  to  the 
United  States,  packing  the  cars  so  completely  that  the 
ticket  collector  had  to  walk  through  on  the  arms  of 


INDUSTRIAL.  59 


the  seats,  holding  to  the  transoms.  These  men  rode 
in  this  condition  hundreds  of  miles;  had  they  been 
cattle  of  any  grade,  they  would  not  have  been  so 
handled ;  but  they  were  men,  men  leaving  the  country 
against  the  will  of  the  government  and  the  desire  of 
the  land-owner,  with  every  discouragement  placed  in 
their  way. 

Not  only  by  rail,  but  on  foot,  in  long  files,  following 
a  banner  of  hope,  carried  at  the  head  of  the  column, 
men,  without  money,  and  with  only  a  sack  of  provi- 
sions, a  gourd  of  water,  and  a  blanket  for  cloak  by 
day,  and  bed  and  tent  by  night,  are  marching  out  of 
the  country. 

Ill  fares  the  land  to  lasting  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates,  and  men  decay. 
Princes  and  lords  may  flourish  or  may  fade, 
A  breath  can  make  them,  as  a  breath  has  made; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 
When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied. 

—  The  Deserted  Village. 

The  emigration,  in  large  numbers,  of  the  Mexicans 
to  the  United  States,  where  they  learn  the  operation, 
and  see  the  effects,  of  civil  government,  and  then 
return  to  Mexico,  imparting  the  information  to  their 
countrymen,  thence  to  the  United  States  again  with 
their  families,  is  not  only  depleting  Mexico,  but  is 
working,  aside  from  this  material  physical  change, 
a  modification  in  the  religious,  political  and  social 
life  of  the  people,  and  is  the  very  cause  finally  to  pro- 
duce a  revolution  in  their  condition. 

Military  and  governmental  revolutions  almost  always 
mean  merely  a  change  of  masters,  bringing  to  the  peo- 
ple only  the  additional  burden  of  the  change;  and 


60  MEXICO. 

these  are  what  Mexico  has,  for  so  long,  been  enduring ; 
but  her  amelioration  will  finally  come  from  foreign 
travel,  that  great  educational  source,  which  brought 
civilization  into  Europe  with  the  return  of  the  cru- 
saders, and  incidentally  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  Refor- 
mation. 

One  of  the  surest  lessons  taught  by  history  is  that 
emigration,  forced  from  a  country,  marks  its  decline. 
Mexico  should,  therefore,  learn,  and  might  yet  take 
warning;  but  she  will  not. 

All  industries  in  Mexico  will  realize,  when  too  late, 
that  they  cannot  keep  laborers  there  on  12^  cents  to 
25  cents  per  day,  when  they  can  obtain  $1.50  to  $2.00 
per  day  in  the  United  States,  where  they  will  have 
the  advantage,  also,  of  human  treatment;  and  emi- 
gration to  the  United  States  must,  therefore,  continue 
to  increase,  to  the  great  detriment  of  Mexico. 

What  growrs  out  of  the  ground  and  is  produced 
from  mines  constitutes  all  the  wealth  of  Mexico,  be- 
cause she  has  neither  manufactures  nor  foreign  trade. 
Her  land,  for  a  long  time,  I  am  satisfied  from  appear- 
ances, and  her  mines  for  a  shorter  time,  have  been 
suffering  for  lack  of  laborers ;  hence,  she  is  decreasing 
in  wealth. 

I  am  not  enthusiastic  over  the  coming  of  the  Mexi- 
cans to  the  United  States;  I  -would  be  glad  if  they 
could  find  it  convenient  and  profitable  to  stay  at  home ; 
and  I  would  rejoice  to  know  that  conditions  in  that 
country  had  improved  to  the  extent  of  making  it  de- 
sirable for  them  to  stay  at  home,  or  return,  after  hav- 
ing been  with  us. 

The  present  condition  of  the  Mexicans  must  still 
exist  for  some  time,  because  the  majority  of  the  people 


INDUSTRIAL.  61 


are  too  poor  to  leave;  and,  if  they  did  leave  in  large 
numbers,  they  would  have  no  place  to  go,  nor  would 
they  be  able  to  live  at  all,  until  they  got  out  of  the 
country. 

A  state  of  subjection  may  be  so  complete  that  even 
liberty  cannot  change  it. 

During  the  year  1906,  according  to  newspaper  re- 
ports, about  twenty-two  thousand  Mexicans  arrived 
at  El  Paso,  scattering  over  a  large  portion  of  the  United 
States,  engaging  mostly  in  railroad  work.  The  Mexi- 
can government,  however,  reported  the  number  at 
about  six  thousand,  and  has  been  very  busily  engaged 
trying  to  discourage  this  emigration,  continuously 
giving  out,  while  I  was  in  the  country,  that  no  work 
could  be  obtained  at  El  Paso,  and  telling  stories  of 
great  suffering  among  the  Mexicans  there.  These  re- 
ports, however,  did  not  deter  them,  because  they  had 
no  remunerative  work  at  home,  and  they  certainly 
could  not  be  influenced,  in  view  of  their  condition 
at  home,  when  told  of  suffering  abroad. 

The  government,  the  owners  of  haciendas,  and  the 
employers  of  large  numbers  of  laborers  are  very  much 
exercised  over  this  emigration,  as  affecting  their  imme- 
diate plans;  and  I  saw  evidences  of  it,  in  large  tracts 
of  land,  formerly  in  cultivation,  but  gone  and  going 
back  to  a  wild  state  by  reason  of  lack  of  laborers  to 
till  the  ground.  The  land-owner,  however,  will  not 
raise  the  wages,  nor  put  in  modern  machinery,  or  other- 
wise improve  his  facilities  to  do  the  work,  with  the 
result  that  the  haciendas  will  eventually  become  un- 
profitable; but  already  this  has  happened,  in  some 
instances,  and  these  large  tracts  of  land  are  on  the 
market  to  foreigners,  who  are  buying  them  in  bliss- 


62  MEXICO. 

ful  ignorance  of  prevailing  or  approaching  conditions. 
With  a  change  of  ownership,  a  partial  change  of  con- 
dition will  follow;  but  the  natural  difficulties  are  so 
great,  that  a  revolution  in  methods  can  never  be  looked 
for. 

To  illustrate:  Land  that  has  been  eight  months 
without  rain  cannot  be  plowed  until  moistened  by 
rain  again;  and,  when  this  occurs,  the  farmer  must 
act  very  quickly  in  plowing  and  planting,  before  the 
rains  become  too  frequent  or  too  heavy.  This  applies 
to  the  crop  of  corn  and  other  grains  planted  on  non- 
irrigated  ground  the  latter  part  of  June  or  first  of  July, 
as  the  rainy  season  begins  the  latter  part  of  June,  I 
was  told. 

The  sowing  of  wheat  is  under  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, because  that  requires  irrigation,  and  the 
farmer  has  some  choice  as  to  time  and  conditions. 

I  saw  but  one  steam  plow,  and  that  was  in  operation 
near  Aguas  Calientes;  also  a  few  steel  plows,  as  com- 
monly used  in  the  United  States,  at  stores  for  sale; 
but  all  others  were  the  old  wooden  plows,  made  of  a 
crooked  stick,  with  metallic  point,  one  handle  and  a 
wooden  beam,  drawn  at  snail  pace  by  oxen. 

Wheat  is  still,  almost  everywhere,  cut  by  hand  with 
a  sickle;  and,  in  yet  a  very  few  places  is  trodden  out 
by  oxen  on  a  stone  floor,  although  modern  threshers 
are  now  generally  in  use. 

Circular  threshing-floors,  thirty  or  forty  feet  in 
diameter,  paved  with  stones  closely  fitted  together 
and  surrounded  by  a  wall  or  curb  of  cut  stones  on  end 
about  three  feet  in  height,  are  to  be  seen.  I  regarded 
these  with  great  curiosity,  as  they  seemed  to  carry 
me  back  several  thousand  years  in  the  world's  history ; 


INDUSTRIAL.  63 


but  I  thought  how  much  better  this  was  than  the 
flail  with  which  I  used  to  have  to  pound  out  buck- 
wheat. 

On  leaving  the  country,  toward  the  latter  part  of 
February,  I  saw  some  wheat  cut  and  in  shock.  Four 
months  afterward,  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  I  saw 
wheat  just  coming  up  in  Manitoba.  Granting  that 
the  crop  in  Manitoba  would  be  ripe  and  cut  the  latter 
part  of  September,  this  would  make  the  wheat  harvest 
in  North  America  from  the  City  of  Mexico,  its  most 
southerly  point,  to  Winnipeg,  its  most  northerly,  about 
seven  months  long. 


CHAPTER  III. 
COMMERCIAL. 

I  cannot  give  a  comprehensive  view  of  Mexico  with- 
out saying  something  about  its  transportation  facili- 
ties, because,  now,  the  great  railway  lines,  in  the  de- 
scription of  a  country,  are  more  important  than  the 
great  rivers,  as  a  determining  factor  in  the  country's 
development,  in  controlling  the  direction  of  trade. 
Before  the  construction  of  railways,  the  navigable 
rivers  determined  very  largely  the  course  of  trade  and 
the  country's  development,  but  they  have  now  re- 
signed that  control  in  favor  of  the  railways,  which 
are  altogether  comparable  with  the  blood-vessels  of 
the  human  body,  carrying,  relaying  and  recarrying 
that  which  is  the  life,  or  which  gives  life,  in  both  cases. 
Those,  desiring  to  give  their  imaginations  more  range 
than  my  purpose  will  permit,  may  find  pleasure  in 
dissecting  the  circulatory  system  of  commerce,  find- 
ing here  the  heart,  with  its  double  function,  supply- 
ing the  body  generally  for  life,  the  lungs  for  purifi- 
cation, not  forgetting  the  portal  system  for  keeping 
up  the  supply,  following  the  lines  of  the  arteries,  their 
branches,  the  capillaries,  and  returning  to  the  center 
along  the  veins ;  but  my  purpose  will  be  subserved  by 
calling  attention  to  the  main  channels  only. 

El  Paso,  Eagle  Pass  and  Laredo,  all  on  the  Rio 
Grande,  are  the  present  gateways  from  the  north; 

[64] 


COMMERCIAL.  65 


and  Brownsville,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  will 
doubtless,  also,  be  a  gateway  later.  The  extension 
of  a  branch  line  entering  from  the  United  States  and 
intended  to  skirt  the  west  coast  south  and  reach 
eventually  as  far  as  the  City  of  Mexico,  is  now  in  prog- 
ress; but,  as  the  natural  difficulties  of  the  country 
are  very  great,  its  completion  may  be  long  delayed. 
The  objective  point  of  all  lines  from  the  north  is  the 
City  of  Mexico,  which  has  two  lines  to  Vera  Cruz  and 
one  to  Tampico,  the  two  principal  ports  on  the  east 
coast.  From  the  city,  connection  is  made  with  the 
Tehuantepec  line  across  the  isthmus,  connecting 
Coatzacoalcos  on  the  east  coast  with  Salina  Cruz  on 
the  west  coast,  the  latter  being  the  only  port  on  the 
west  coast  with  railway  connection  to  the  city,  and 
that  is  indirect.  Lines  are  in  progress  to  other  ports 
on  the  west  coast,  but  their  completion  is  not  yet  in 
sight.  Along  the  lines  mentioned  is  now  pulsating 
the  trade  of  the  country. 

Stage  lines,  for  the  transportation  of  persons  and 
the  mails,  are  operated  from  the  railroads  to  a  few  of 
the  outlying  districts,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  riding 
more  than  one  hundred  miles  in  an  old  rockaway 
coach,  such  as  was  used  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States  in  the  old  turnpike  days;  although  this 
is  not  the  usual  style  of  coach  now  in  use  in  Mexico, 
but  one  of  lighter  and  cheaper  construction.  This 
ride  was  a  pleasure  indeed,  and  I  do  not  know  how 
to  impress  that  fact  upon  one  who  has  never  ridden 
all  night  and  all  day,  without  intermission,  in  a  stage- 
coach, drawn  on  the  run,  over  rough  roads;  and  then 
also  think  of  the  gratification  of  having  the  experi- 
ence and  enjoying  the  luxuries  of  a  century  ago!  I 


06  MEXICO. 

do  not  like  the  disposition  of  the  present  time,  which 
finds  only  an  objection,  a  kick,  in  everything,  against 
the  past,  the  present  and  the  future  alike,  thus  ex- 
hibiting unmistakable  ignorance,  while  pretending  to 
be  cultivated  and  experienced.  To  travel  to  the  ut- 
most ends  of  the  earth  is  a  great  pleasure,  but  to  be 
carried  backward  a  century,  a  real  enjoyment. 

Those  who  go  to  Mexico,  and  follow  only  the  usual 
lines  of  travel  by  rail,  ought  not  to  flatter  themselves 
that  they  have  seen  the  country  or  the  people. 

Riding  a  burro  comes  next,  as  a  ^general  means  of 
travel,  because  horses  are  scarce,  and,  the  mules  are 
mostly  used  for  stages  and  carts. 

Next,  and,  lastly,  you  can  walk,  and  walking  is  a 
great  means  of  transportation  in  Mexico,  journeys  of 
more  than  one  hundred  miles  on  foot,  by  men,  women 
and  children,  being  very  common.  A  boy  of  twelve 
years,  from  whom  I  bought  some  curios  at  Irapuato, 
told  me  he  had  walked  in  from  the  country  a  distance 
of  eighty-five  miles,  and  carried  his  basket  of  mer- 
chandise. 

How  would  you  like,  my  little  man,  to  carry  a  basket 
of  eggs  to  town  for  your  mother,  a  distance  of  a  mile, 
and  bring  back  the  worth  of  them  in  sugar?  No,  no; 
you  would  want,  if  not  an  automobile,  at  least  a 
fast  horse  and  a  rubber-tired,  and  would  feel  your- 
self disgraced,  yes,  disgraced,  with  a  less  pretentious 
turnout,  all  to  market  a  basket  of  eggs! 

I  see  people  in  my  own  town,  and  I  am  told  they 
now  exist  everywhere,  who  have  mortgaged  all  they 
have  to  buy  an  automobile,  which  I  see  them  daily 
drive  up  to  a  little  hole-in-the-wall  variously  called  a 
restaurant,  lunchroom,  chophouse,  or  other  like  in- 


COMMERCIAL.  67 


appetizing  name,  go  in,  perch  themselves  upon  a 
stool,  eat  a  fifteen-cent  meal,  have  it  charged  to  them, 
go  out,  get  into  their  machine,  and  drive  off  a-spin- 
ning  and  a-tooting,  streamers  (veils)  a-flying,  and 
smiling  or  dignified  countenances,  according  to  the 
temper  of  the  individuals,  which  seem  to  say  to  us 
poor  pedestrians,  as  we  flee  from  being  crushed  be- 
fore them:  "This  town  is  mine,  but  I  permit  you  to 
stay  here  to  furnish  me  excitement  in  trying  to  run 
over  you." 

Automobiles  are  very  scarce  in  Mexico,  except  in 
the  City  of  Mexico,  where  I  found  a  great  many,  as 
seems  to  be  the  case  now  in  all  great  cities ;  and,  not- 
withstanding many  restrictions  placed  by  law  upon 
the  manner  of  running  them,  the  public  is  nowhere 
safe  against  their  unlawful  operation. 

The  State  of  Kansas  has  very  salutary  laws  on  the 
subject,  which  are  just  and  equitable  to  both  the 
owners  of  automobiles  and  the  public ;  but  the  trouble 
here,  as  elsewhere,  seems  to  be  in  the  enforcement. 
An  exception,  however,  is  made  in  favor  of  politicians ; 
section  413,  of  the  General  Statutes  of  Kansas  of  1907, 
after  defining  an  automobile,  provides: 

Nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  construed  as  in  any 
way  preventing,  obstructing,  impeding,  embarrass- 
ing or  in  any  manner  or  form  infringing  upon  the  pre- 
rogative of  any  political  chauffeur  to  run  an  automo- 
bilious  band-wagon  at  any  rate  he  sees  fit  compatible 
with  the  safety  of  the  occupants  thereof:  Provided, 
however,  That  not  less  than  ten  nor  more  than  twenty 
ropes  be  allowed  at  all  times  to  trail  behind  this  vehi- 
cle when  in  motion,  in  order  to  permit  those  who  have 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  escape  with  their  political  lives 
an  opportunity  to  be  dragged  to  death:  And  pro- 


68  MEXICO. 

vided  further,  That  whenever  a  mangled  and  bleed- 
ing political  corpse  implores  for  mercy,  the  driver  of 
the  vehicle  shall,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions 
of  this  bill,  "Throw  out  the  life-line." 

But  walking  has  always  been  a  great  means  of 
transportation ;  and,  while  not  always  the  most  fashion- 
able, will  yet  always  maintain  its  footing  as  against 
any  innovations.  In  one  of  my  drives  over  the  coun- 
try, I  met  250  or  300  able-bodied  men,  marching 
double  file,  about  an  equal  number  in  each  line,  the 
leader  of  one  line  having  a  banner  displaying  a  picture 
of  the  Virgin,  and  the  banner  of  the  companion  line 
with  a  picture  of  some  apostle  or  saint,  on  a  journey 
of  about  eight  hundred  miles  to  find  work,  each  man 
having  for  his  bed  a  single  blanket,  a  sack  or  bundle 
of  provisions,  a  gourd  of  water, — a  true  army,  an  in- 
dustrial army,  marching  and  camping  day  and  night 
until  they  reach  their  destination.  These  men  had 
little  or  no  money,  but  were  making  heroic  efforts  to 
get  to  where  they  could  find  work  at  remunerative 
wages. 

I  have  had  occasion  to  speak  of  this  when  writing 
about  industrial  conditions. 

The  products  of  the  country  are  brought  to  market 
or  to  the  railroad  for  shipment  a  surprisingly  long  dis- 
tance in  some  instances.  At  Zacatecas  I  asked  a 
man,  just  arrived  with  a  burro  train  loaded  with  char- 
coal, how  far  he  had  come,  and  he  said  ninety  miles. 
Immense  two- wheeled  carts,  drawn  generally  by  six 
or  eight  mules,  but  occasionally  by  oxen,  are  the  only 
vehicles  in. use  for  this  purpose. 

We  are  almost  safe  in  saying  that  there  is  nothing 
not  packed  on  the  backs  of  burros.  I  even  saw  a 


COMMERCIAL.  69 


house  torn  down,  and  packed  off  piece  by  piece  on  the 
backs  of  these  poor  creatures;  and  one  frequently 
sees  corn-fodder  or  hay  packed  upon  them  so  as  to 
obscure  them  entirely  on  a  side  view,  producing  the 
appearance  of  moving  stacks. 

Steamers  occasionally  touch  on  the  west  coast ;  and, 
while  I  was  in  the  country,  one  landed  at  a  port  with 
about  six  hundred  Japanese  to  work  on  the  extension 
of  a  railway  to  connect  with  another  extension  from 
the  city,  but  I  was  told  all  these  Japanese,  instead 
of  going  to  work,  had  left  for  the  interior;  and,  while 
I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  report,  yet  I  know 
all  of  a  sudden  the  country  was  full  of  Japanese  work- 
ing their  way  mostly  toward  the  United  States,  hoping 
to  swim  the  Rio  Grande  at  El  Paso;  and,  I  think, 
they  did,  because,  on  arriving  at  El  Paso  a  few  weeks 
later,  that  town  was  overrun  with  them,  and  con- 
tractors for  railway  laborers  in  the  United  States  were 
shipping  them  out  by  the  carload. 

The  east  coast,  particularly  Vera  Cruz  and  Tampico, 
has  regular  vessels  plying  between  there  and  various 
ports  in  the  United  States  and  Europe. 

So  much  for  transportation  in  Mexico,  both  by  land 
and  sea. 

Formerly  almost  all  railroad  employes  in  Mexico, 
except  track  laborers,  were  from  the  United  States; 
but  this  condition  is  slowly  changing,  and  we  now 
find  a  few  engineers,  many  firemen,  a  few  conductors 
and  many  brakemen,  of  the  native  people,  from  which 
we  easily  see  that  the  proportion  must  increase.  Sec- 
tion foremen  were  also  formerly  from  the  United 
States,  but  now  they  are  all  natives,  as  well  as  a  few 


70  MEXICO. 

road  masters.  The  station  agents  are  now  mostly 
natives,  and  the  clerical  work,  in  the  general  offices 
in  particular,  is  done  almost  entirely  by  natives.  One 
can,  therefore,  see  that  only  time  is  now  required  to 
furnish  the  necessary  education  and  experience  on 
the  part  of  the  natives  to  put  the  entire  work  of  oper- 
ating their  railroads  in  their  own  hands,  which  will 
mark  a  very  important  step  in  their  advancement, 
and  local  self-control  and  government. 

The  same  miserably  poor  freight  service  under  which 
the  people  in  the  United  States  have  been  suffering 
for  the  past  two  or  three  years  is  what  we  find  in  Mexico, 
and  the  same  excuse  is  there  given  as  here,  lack  of 
freight  cars,  car  famine,  as  railroad  people  say;  but 
I  think  we  would  find  there,  as  I  am  sure  of  conditions 
here,  that  the  trouble  arises  mostly  from  lack  of  loco- 
motives, locomotive  famine,  first,  and,  second,  lack  of 
ability,  brain  famine,  on  the  part  of  the  men  trying  to 
run  our  railroads. 

From  personal  and  continuous  observation,  made 
during  all  the  time  this  alleged  car  famine  is  said  to 
have  existed,  I  am  sure,  and  I  take  no  chances  in 
asserting,  that  no  serious  and  long-continued  car  or 
locomotive  famine  has  existed ;  but  I  am  not  so  posi- 
tive about  the  brain  famine. 

In  the  fall  of  1904,  all  at  once,  and  all  over  the 
country,  a  great  cry  went  up  from  the  railroads  that 
they  could  not  move  the  traffic  on  account  of  a  short- 
age of  cars;  and  cars,  as  I  myself  observed,  actually 
did  disappear  from  terminal  stations  and  the  yards  in 
the  large  cities;  but,  where  did  they  go  to,  what  had 
become  of  them?  I  naturally  asked.  They  had  not 
been  eaten  up,  or  consumed  in  the  famine,  as  this 


COMMERCIAL.  71 


was  not  that  kind  of  famine ;  but  I  kept  looking,  and 
later  I  discovered  the  side-tracks  at  little  and  out-of- 
the-way  stations  filled  with  empty  freight  cars,  stored 
away  for  safe-keeping. 

This  explains  the  immediate  car  famine,  which  was 
forced  into  existence  at  that  time;  but,  manifestly, 
this  condition  could  not  last  long;  and  these  cars 
were  again  put  in  service;  but  with  the  restriction 
that  they  should  be  moved  slowly,  which  was  effected 
through  the  influence  of  many  minor  procrastinations ; 
but  chiefly,  and,  in  some  places,  solely,  by  overloading 
the  engines,  in  order  to  make  a  great  showing  of  ton- 
nage hauled,  until  intervals,  as  I  personally  myself 
know,  of  one  to  two  months  were  required  to  move 
cars  less  than  one  hundred  miles,  and  where,  indeed, 
they  stood  loaded  at  the  initial  station  more  than  a 
month  before  getting  started. 

Why  should  this  have  been  done?  This  question 
cannot  be  answered  on  the  ground  of  sense;  it  must, 
therefore,  be  answered  on  the  ground  of  a  lack  of  sense ; 
and  finds  its  full  solution  in  the  brain  famine  before 
referred  to. 

The  alleged  car  shortage  is,  also,  due,  in  a  very 
great  degree,  to  the  large  number  of  bad-order  freight 
cars,  for  so  long  existing  and  constantly  increasing, 
which  the  railroad  companies  are  making  little  or  no 
effort  to  repair  and  place  back  in  service. 

At  the  present  time  (September,  1907),  I  know  that 
one-seventh  of  the  whole  number  of  cars,  owned  by  a 
certain  railroad  company,  are  in  bad  order,  and  out 
of  service ;  and  that  the  company,  so  far  from  making 
an  effort  to  speedily  repair  them,  is  not  making  more 


72  MEXICO. 

than  a  pretense  toward  keeping  up  repairs  on  those 
actually  in  service. 

Not  only  are  the  tracks  at  repair  stations  full  of 
bad-order  cars,  but  the  sidetracks  at  all  stations,  for 
many  miles  in  every  direction  therefrom,  are,  also, 
crowded  with  them,  awaiting  their  turn,  thus  hamper- 
ing the  transaction  of  business  at  those  stations,  as 
well  as  greatly  delaying  the  movement  of  trains  on 
the  road. 

If  this  can  be  said  to  be  business  at  all,  it  certainly 
must  be  called  poor  business. 

Errors  are  great  in  proportion  as  the  enterprise  is 
great.  We  must  not  imagine  that,  because  great  skill 
is  -required,  great  skill  is  forthcoming.  A  multitude 
is  the  expression  of  less  wisdom  than  an  individual. 

The  rules  of  criticism,  however,  demand  that  I 
should  offer  some  more  specific  explanation  for  the 
existence  of  this  untoward  condition  than  merely  a 
lack  of  sense;  but  I  know  of  none,  and  will  venture 
none,  except  what  may  be  inferred  from  results ;  and, 
if  these  results  were  the  end  aimed  at,  then  I  am 
giving  the  correct  solution;  otherwise  not,  in  which 
event  the  contrary  of  my  statement  would  be  true, 
that  the  results  were  not  the  end  aimed  at;  but,  in 
either  case,  whether  or  whether  not,  the  results  were 
satisfactory;  because  the  then  generally  existing  de- 
mand for  a  reduction  of  freight  rates  was  silenced,  as 
the  business  world,  in  order  to  fulfill  its  engagements, 
was  glad  to  obtain  its  freight  at  all,  without  respect  to 
the  charges;  and  the  railroad  companies,  pretending 
to  be  in  desperate  straits,  not  their  own  doing,  and 
from  which  they  were  alike  pretending  that  they  were 
making  heroic  efforts  to  extricate  themselves,  that  the 


COMMERCIAL.  73 


people,  actually  pitying  them,  withdrew,  for  a  time, 
all  demands  and  objections. 

This  imposition  was,  however,  short-lived;  indi- 
viduals became  cognizant  of  the  fact ;  the  newspapers 
gave  it  publicity ;  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
investigated;  and  the  fraud  was  exposed. 

The  railroad  companies,  far  from  gaining,  have  not 
only  lost  very  largely  in  earnings,  but  have  also  fore- 
gone what  little  public  confidence  they  then  called 
their  own. 

Another  phase  of  this  situation  deserves  to  be  spe- 
cifically mentioned,  not  only  because  equally  appli- 
cable to  the  railroads  of  Mexico  and  the  United  States, 
but  because  it  is  conclusive  of  the  truth  of  the  con- 
tention that  the  demoralized  state  of  railroad  traffic 
is  the  railroad  companies'  own  doing: 

Why  have  all  the  railroad  companies  in  the  country 
allowed  their  roadbeds  and  tracks  to  deteriorate,  and 
become  dilapidated  for  want  of  even  ordinary  repairs, 
and  otherwise  dangerous  to  the  extent  of  being  little 
less  than  murderous,  which  is  not  too  strong  a  state- 
ment in  view  of  the  large  number  of  people  killed  by 
reason  of  bad  track? 

This  question  cannot  be  ignored  any  more  than  the 
answer  can  be  evaded.  The  railroads  have  answered 
that  they  could  not  obtain  the  necessary  laborers  for 
the  work.  This  is  not  true,  and  everybody  knows  it; 
and  what  everybody  knows  need  not  be  dwelt  upon. 

But,  what  has  happened?  is  another  question,  and 
requires  a  specific  answer :  Railroad  companies,  while 
overpaying  some  kinds  of  labor,  always  have  under- 
paid track  laborers;  and,  not  only  this,  but  have  un- 
fairly treated  them  besides.  I  introduce  the  scale 


74  MEXICO. 

of  wages  as  proof  on  that  point;  and,  on  the  point  of 
treatment,  I  only  refer  the  intelligent  to  what  they 
know,  as  constituting  the  most  convincing  proof; 
and,  with  this,  I  drop  the  subject,  because  I  have  no 
desire  to  try  to  convince  the  unintelligent,  those  who 
do  not  know,  and  those  who  desire  an  explanation  for 
everything,  or  an  argument  in  support  of  the  most 
obvious  propositions. 

The  railroad  companies  have  thus  driven  off  the 
track  laborer;  and  they  could  yet  get  him  back,  if 
they  wanted  him;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  want  him. 

For  some  unreason,  also,  at  which  I  could  only 
guess,  the  railroad  companies  are  not  now  trying  to 
operate  their  lines. 

General  denials  are  now  in  order,  as  they  are  allow- 
able, both  in  law  and  in  business,  and  the  practice  in 
either  permits  them  to  be  sworn  to. 

General  Denial  is  a  new  railroad  office  recently 
created,  standing  immediately  above  the  office  of 
General  Manager,  with  unlimited  and  unqualified  au- 
thority and  jurisdiction,  reporting,  however,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  form,  to  the  President  and  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors jointly,  but  from  neither  of  whom  he  takes 
instructions. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  of  a  classical  turn,  I  will 
compare  him  (General  Denial)  to  hundred-tongued 
Fame,  who,  whenever  occasion  arose,  set  his  hundred 
mouths  working,  proclaiming  far  and  wide  whatever 
was  handed  him,  whether  good  or  bad. 

I  see  a  statement  in  Poor's  Manual,  that,  for  1906, 
the  increase  in  freight  tonnage  per  mile  was  about 
four  percent  in  excess  of  the  freight-car  increase. 
Now,  four  percent  is  a  small  increase  in  a  growing 


COMMERCIAL.  75 


business,  such  as  transportation  in  the  United  States, 
and  must  certainly  be  much  less  than  the  average 
increase  accompanying  the  general  development  of 
the  country. 

As  elsewhere  stated,  but  which  cannot  be  repeated 
too  often  or  too  loudly,  the  poor,  dangerous  and  crimi- 
nal condition  of  the  railroad  tracks  is  the  great  and 
chief  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  companies  to  handle 
their  business;  and  next  comes  the  poor  condition  of 
their  rolling-stock,  first,  of  cars,  then,  of  engines,  fol- 
lowed by  improper  methods  of  operation,  instituted 
as  schemes,  which  always  means  incompetent  manage- 
ments under  too  great  a  pressure  for  results  from  the 
financial  heads  of  the  concerns. 

Under  a  similar  stress  of  conditions  and  circum- 
stances, every  venture  must  prove  a  failure;  and,  the 
railroad  affairs  of  the  country  are  now  only  furnish- 
ing an  exemplification  of  a  general  truth,  instead  of 
presenting  an  anomalous  or  untoward  condition. 

The  whole  railroad  situation  of  to-day  may  be  justly 
compared  with  a  structure  whose  foundations  have 
become  sapped  by  percolating  waters,  whose  walls 
have,  hence,  become  cracked,  tottering  and  danger- 
ous, whose  landlord  has  plastered  the  crevices  to  hide 
them  from  the  lessees,  who,  in  their  turn,  have  painted 
over  the  whole  structure,  and  are  endeavoring  to  sub- 
let to  other  tenants. 

During  the  depressed  state  of  business  generally  in 
the  United  States  from  about  1889  to  1897,  the  rail- 
roads suffered,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other  of  the 
great  enterprises.  What  is  always  and  everywhere 
true,  that  conditions  make  or  unmake  men,  happened 
here:  Great  financiers,  equal  to  the  conditions,  arose, 


76  MEXICO. 

because  conditions  had  not  then  become  superhuman; 
men  of  great  activity,  skill  and  foresight,  the  product 
of  conditions,  also,  were  personally  in  the  field,  manag- 
ing the  active  affairs ;  and  men,  faithful  to  their  duty, 
filling  the  ranks  of  the  great  army  of  employe's.  A 
powerful  organization,  under  such  auspices,  could 
scarcely  fail  of  victory. 

How  different  have  been  conditions  from  1897  to 
1907!  An  unforeseen  prosperity  arose,  due  to  un- 
precedentedly  long-continued  favorable  climatic  con- 
ditions and  good  crops,  accompanied  by  the  reaction 
from  the  preceding  depression,  due  partially  to  the 
elasticity  of  the  times,  but  most  largely  to  the  great 
and  efficient  work  of  the  men  of  that  disastrous  period. 

The  battle,  being  now  almost  won,  upstarts,  like 
Napoleon,  near  the  close  of  the  great  French  Revo- 
lution, rushed  in  to  claim  credit  for  the  victory,  and 
obtain  an  unjust  share  in  the  honors;  and,  like  the 
coup  of  Napoleon,  succeeded  in  their  designs;  and, 
like  Napoleon  again,  instituted  a  destructive  policy, 
which,  while  silencing  all  opposition,  as  was  designed, 
wrought  the  destruction  of  the  enterprise,  as  Napoleon 
had  ruined  France;  and,  as  Napoleon  had  his  Water- 
loo, the  same  utter  destruction  is  now  only  waiting 
its  appointed  time,  in  the  collapse  of  these  schemes. 

A  body,  natural  or  artificial,  expanded  beyond  the 
reaction  of  its  own  elasticity,  must  collapse,  because 
the  power  to  return  to  the  normal  is  lost.  The  mind, 
and  its  product,  ideas,  are  under  the  dominion  of  the 
same  law. 

With  the  present  state  of  business,  when  railroad 
companies  have  more  traffic  offered  to  them  than  they 
can  carry,  or  that  they  make  any  attempt,  or  are 


COMMERCIAL.  77 


solicitous,  to  carry,  they  must,  perforce,  make  more 
than  operating  expenses ;  but,  in  the  present  condition 
of  the  money  market,  which  must  be  long-continued, 
those  roads  required  to  raise  large  sums  of  money  to 
meet  accruing  indebtedness,  such  as  the  refunding  of 
bonds,  will  be  unable  to  secure  the  necessary  amount, 
either  by  direct  loan  or  by  substitution,  and  must, 
therefore,  be  forced  into  the  hands  of  receivers. 

The  present  year  marks  the  beginning  of  the  time 
when  the  States,  through  their  Boards  of  Railroad 
Commissioners,  have  taken  in  hand  the  direction  of 
affairs  as  to  the  manner  in  which  railroad  tracks  shall 
be  maintained;  but  this  has  been  done  only  after 
years  of  demoralization,  and  at  the  cost  of  many  in- 
juries and  the  loss  of  many  lives. 

While  the  course  hitherto  pursued  by  railroad  com- 
panies in  track  maintenance  has  been  insisted  upon 
by  them  as  proper  and  necessary  to  their  existence  as 
business  enterprises,  I  cannot  believe  that  such  a 
course  ever  was,  or  ever  can  be,  proper,  or,  in  the  long 
run,  profitable,  as  against  what  would  result  from  the 
maintenance  of  a  well -constructed  track  in  first-class 
condition  the  year  round. 

Reason  revolts  against  the  proposition,  as  stated  by 
the  railroad  companies,  judgment  reverses  it,  sense 
condemns  it,  principle  disapproves  it,  security  is  ban- 
ished, rights  ignored,  justice  outraged;  and  all  the 
evils  of  humanity  stalk  in  deadly  procession  in  the  wake 
of  such  a  monstrosity. 

Great,  long-continued  and  disastrous  has  been  the 
evil;  and,  I  think,  we  are  coming  to  the  remedy  of 
this  disease;  but,  before  the  cure  is  effected,  think  of 
how  much  of  injury,  of  pain,  and  of  death  the  general 


78  MEXICO. 

public  are  destined  yet  to  suffer!  The  man  who  can 
expedite  the  time  deserves  to  be  named  among  the 
great  benefactors  of  the  human  race;  but,  while  giving 
all  due  credit  to  individual  efforts,  we  should  never 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  impetus  of  our  amelio- 
ration is  the  just  indignation  of  a  long-suffering  and 
outraged  public;  and  the  railroad  companies,  in  deal- 
ing with  events,  should  consider  them  in  relation  to 
the  deliberate,  general,  public  judgment,  and  not  refer 
them  to  the  temporary  aberrations  of  politicians  or 
agitators,  to  be  satisfied  when  they  shall  have  found 
their  price. 

The  cost  of  construction,  maintenance  and  operation 
of  railroads  in  Mexico  is  greater  than  in  the  United 
States,  which  can  be  appreciated,  without  argument, 
when  you  are  told  that  the  country  is  almost  without 
fuel,  timber,  and,  I  might  say,  water,  except  in  the 
rainy  season,  the  supply  for  the  railroads  being  ob- 
tained at  great  expense  and  difficulty  in  most  places, 
and  is  mostly  of  poor  quality.  All  material  for  con- 
struction and  maintenance,  except  the  roadbed  it- 
self, must  be  imported,  as  well  as  fuel,  whether  coal 
or  oil,  and  also  all  equipment.  Employe's  engaged 
in  operation  get  the  scale  of  wages  called  standard 
in  the  United  States,  on  the  basis  of  value  of  United 
States  money;  officials  ordinarily  get  a  higher  rate 
of  pay  than  in  the  United  States;  and,  in  the  single 
item  of  track  laborers,  is  the  scale  of  wages  lower  than 
in  the  United  States.  These  poor  men,  on  the  basis 
of  money  values  with  us,  get  25  cents  a  day ;  but  this 
condition  is  rapidly  coming  to  a  close,  as  these  men 
are  now,  and  for  several  years  last  past,  have  been, 
coming  to  the  United  States  by  thousands,  where 


COMMERCIAL.  79 


they  receive  about  six  times  as  much  wages,  with  the 
result  that  Mexico  is  becoming  depleted  of  laborers, 
which  must  eventually  raise  wages  there. 

In  Mexico,  the  government  fixes  the  charges  to  be 
made  by  railroad  companies,  without  making  them 
confiscatory;  and,  in  the  case  of  passenger  rates,  they 
are  less,  much  less,  than  in  the  United  States.  Two 
classes  of  passenger  rates  and  corresponding  accommo- 
nations  exist,  the  first,  at  3  cents  per  kilometer,  and 
the  second,  at  1£  cents  per  kilometer. 

Now,  as  the  value  of  Mexican  money  is  only  half 
that  of  the  United  States,  and  adjusting,  also,  the 
difference  between  a  kilometer  and  a  mile,  the  charge, 
on  this  basis,  if  made  in  the  United  States,  would  be 
2f  and  1|  cents  per  mile  for  the  two  classes  respectively. 

Even  the  Pullman  Company,  that  liberal,  gracious, 
and  almost  eleemosynary  corporation,  is  doing  busi- 
ness on  a  less  rate  of  charge  than  in  the  United  States, 
although  its  operating  expenses  are  greater  there  than 
here;  but  it  meets  any  imputation  here  of  a  reduction 
of  its  rates  with  the  cry  of  "Confiscation!"  and  frowns 
its  blackest  frown  at  surrendering  to  a  sufferer  en- 
tombed in  a  lower  berth,  a  few  cubic  feet  of  night  air 
in  the  upper  berth,  when  not  occupied. 

Passenger  service  is  hardly  up  to  standard;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  is  very  good  in  view  of  the  difficulties 
to  be  overcome  and  the  lightness  of  travel,  when  the 
population  of  the  country  is  considered.  Guadalajara, 
of  about  80,000  inhabitants,  the  second  city  in  popula- 
tion and  importance  in  the  country,  furnishes  traffic  for 
but  one  five-car  train  each  way  daily  between  there  and 
the  City  of  Mexico;  and  the  only  other  service  it  has 
is  one  train  daily  on  each  of  two  short  branch  lines. 


80  MEXICO. 

To  furnish  a  comparison,  I  will  say  that  the  city  of 
Topeka,  only  half  the  size  of  Guadalajara,  has  about 
forty  passenger  trains  daily. 

Freight  rates,  I  was  told,  are  about  the  same  as  in 
the  United  States. 

From  five  to  ten  times  as  many  people  pay  the 
second-class  fare  as  the  first-class;  but,  reckoning  at 
the  lower  proportion,  the  general  average  of  fares 
would  be  l£  cents  per  mile;  whereas,  on  the  basis  of 
the  higher  proportion,  the  average  would  be  lf\  cents 
per  mile  on  the  value  of  United  States  money. 

The  railroad  companies  in  the  United  States,  where 
advantage,  over  Mexico,  is  had  in  every  particular, 
with  the  exception  of  wages  to  track  laborers,  are 
resisting  the  reduction  of  passenger  fares  to  2  cents 
per  mile,  with  the  cry  of  Confiscation!  But,  so  little 
attention  is  paid  to  the  track  in  the  United  States; 
and,  as  this  is  the  place,  also,  wrhere  reductions  are 
always  made  to  meet  financial  exigencies,  which  seem 
to  be  of  very  frequent  occurrence,  railroad  officials 
have  little  to  complain  of  on  this  score. 

Frequently  one  man,  the  section  foreman,  is  charged 
with  the  care  of  six  or  seven  miles  of  track  for  the 
greater  portion  of  the  year;  sometimes  the  foreman 
and  one  laborer;  but  seldom  a  sufficient  force  for  its 
proper  maintenance  the  year  round. 

This  is  cheap  maintenance,  and  is  also  criminal. 
The  companies  do  it  to  make  money,  as  they  claim; 
but  they  do  so  at  the  expense  of  injuries  and  lives, 
which  cost  less,  they  claim,  under  favorable  laws  and 
indulgent  courts,  than  would  the  proper  maintenance 
of  their  roads;  and  the  criminally  responsible  official 


COMMERCIAL.  81 


has  no  thought,  indeed  he  never  heard,  of  prosecutions 
for  such  crimes. 

I  think,  however,  from  appearances,  that  the  rail- 
road companies  of  Mexico  expend  annually  on  their 
tracks,  notwithstanding  a  lower  scale  of  wages  to  their 
track  laborers,  a  greater  sum  than  the  railroad  com- 
panies in  the  United  States,  so  that  the  difference  be- 
tween the  amounts  expended  for  track  maintenance 
is  not,  in  reality,  in  favor  of  Mexico. 

What  I  have  just  said  about  the  manner  of  the 
maintenance  of  railroad  tracks  constituting  a  crime 
on  the  part  of  the  officials  responsible  therefor,  was 
written  during  the  month  of  September,  1907;  but, 
before  this  work  was  given  to  the  publisher,  and  on 
October  7,  1907,  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
through  the  newspapers,  made  public  a  report  of  ex- 
perts, who  had  examined  the  line  of  the  Missouri 
Pacific  Railway  Company,  declaring  that  the  manner 
in  which  that  company  was  maintaining  its  tracks  is 
criminal. 

I  am,  therefore,  "scooped"  in  my  article;  and  I  am 
not  now  even  the  first  to  extend  the  assertion  to  the 
lines  of  many  other  railroad  companies. 

This  is  a  sad  reminder  of  the  futility  of  many  of  our 
best  and  strongest  efforts.  We  labor  incessantly  to 
develop  an  invention,  only  to  find,  upon  its  com- 
pletion, that  the  machine  is  then  on  the  market;  and 
we  sit  up  all  night  to  give  to  the  public  the  innermost 
workings  of  the  political  machine,  and  its  detrimental 
effects  upon  the  community,  only  to  read,  in  the  morn- 
ing paper,  a  more  complete  view  of  the  situation  than 
we  had  been  able  to  give. 

In  these  days  of  rapid  everything,  I  believe  the  only 


82  MEXICO. 

safe  course  to  pursue,  when  one  finds  himself  possessed 
of  an  idea,  is,  in  the  very  paroxysm,  to  rush  for  the 
newspaper  office,  without  respect  to  his  condition  at 
the  time,  like  Archimedes  jumping  from  his  bath? 
when  he  discovered  the  principle  of  specific  gravity, 
and  running  naked  through  the  streets  of  Syracuse, 
crying  out  "Eureka!" 

Claims  for  personal  damages  against  railroad  com- 
panies have  become  a  profession  in  the  United  States, 
but  have  little  encouragement  in  Mexico,  because 
there  no  right  of  action  survives  in  case  of  death, 
which  is  the  same  status  as  at  common  law  in  Eng- 
land and  in  the  United  States  before  the  enactment 
of  statutes  to  the  contrary;  but  we  must  remember 
that  this  rule  does  not  exist  in  Mexico  by  reason  of  the 
common  law,  for  the  common  law  is  not,  and  never 
was,  in  force  there. 

In  all  cases,  also,  where  the  act  causing  injury,  not 
resulting  in  death,  was  the  personal  or  individual  act 
of  an  employe,  such  as  derailments  by  fast  running, 
disobedience  of  orders,  giving  a  wrong  order,  causing 
collisions,  going  to  sleep  on  duty,  the  employe*  at  fault 
is  alone  responsible,  and  not  the  company,  in  which 
instances  criminal  proceedings  are  usually  brought 
against  the  derelict  individual  employe,  who  must 
answer  before  the  courts  for  his  conduct.  This  is 
the  source  of  the  many  reports  we  hear  of  people  from 
the  United  States  imprisoned  in  Mexico,  all  of  them, 
as  they  come  to  us,  claiming  to  be  unjust,  probably 
unjust  from  our  standpoint,  because,  in  the  United 
States,  we  are  unable  to  convict  for  crimes  of  this 
kind,  and,  indeed,  public  sentiment  is  such  that  in- 


COMMERCIAL.  83 


dictments  and  prosecutions  are  seldom  or  never  made, 
for  the  reason  that  convictions  would  be  impossible, 
all  of  which  would  be  entirely  different,  if  no  money 
damages  were  collectible.  Here  the  rapacity  for  dam- 
ages, whether  personal,  or  for  the  death  of  relatives, 
is  so  great  that  the  prosecution  of  employes  for  the 
crime  of  which  they  are  guilty,  is  not  only  overlooked, 
but  regarded  with  suspicion  or  actually  discouraged 
for  fear  that  such  prosecution  might  act  as  an  element 
in  the  reduction  of  the  damages  which  the  jury,  other- 
wise, might  give.  This  is  the  feeling,  and  this  the  in- 
fluence in  the  case,  although  the  fact  is,  that  the  oppo- 
site ought  to  be  the  logical  result;  because,  if  the 
railroad  company  has  in  its  employ  a  person  who  has 
been  negligent  to  the  extent  of  incurring  a  criminal 
prosecution,  the  greatest  damages  should  be  allowed. 
The  entire  attention  of  the  party  or  parties  in  interest 
is  given  up  to  securing  money  for  the  injury  or  death, 
and  the  amount  is  usually  sufficient  to  satisfy  that 
value  has  been  received,  all  scores  settled,  and  a  sigh 
heaved  that  eventually  all  things  are  for  the  best; 
and  a  regret,  when  the  money  is  all  spent,  is  not  un- 
known to  be  indulged,  that  a  like  disaster  might  not 
be  unacceptable. 

This  is  a  true  story,  one  of  those  terrible  truths,  not 
to  be  believed  when  beyond  individual  experience, 
like  the  incredulity  of  the  people  of  the  tropics,  when 
first  told  that  the  ocean  near  the  poles  becomes  solidi- 
fied so  one  can  walk  over  it;  but  it  is  true;  and,  if 
you  do  not  believe  it  or  cannot  appreciate  it,  the  fault 
is  with  your  knowledge  and  experience.  So  long  as 
this  is  individual  feeling,  what  may  we  expect  of 
corporations  without  feeling  ? 


84  MEXICO. 

Claims  for  stock  killed  in  the  operation  of  trains, 
and  for  fires  set  out  by  locomotives,  are  not  paid  at  all, 
and  such  matters  are  not  even  reported  to  the  company. 

No  thoroughbred  mules  here,  and  neither  is  the 
breed  improved  by  crossing  with  a  locomotive! 

Freight  claims  are  entertained  only  as  matter  of 
policy,  so  as  not  to  discourage  trade. 

In  view  of  the  state  of  the  law,  as  above  explained, 
the  railroad  companies  in  Mexico  have  no  regularly 
organized  claim  departments.  Only  think  of  a  rail- 
road company  in  the  United  States  without  a  claim 
department ! 

I  was  told  by  an  official  of  one  railroad  company 
that  during  the  year  1906  his  company  had  killed  961 
people,  who,  of  course,  cost  nothing;  and  that  to  the 
injured  for  the  same  year,  who  must  necessarily  have 
numbered  thousands,  the  company  had  paid  out  only 
about  $15,000  damages,  which  amount  was  largely 
gratuitous.  How  pleasant  would  a  showing  of  this 
kind  be  to  the  management  of  American  railroads,  if 
they  could  kill  with  immunity,  and  entertain  claims 
for  injuries,  only  if  favorably  disposed! 

On  what  kind  of  claims  for  personal  injuries  on  the 
railroads  of  Mexico  are  damages  collectible?  is  an  in- 
teresting question,  not  only  in  view  of  the  altogether 
different  conditions  existing  in  the  United  States,  but 
also  to  people  receiving  injuries  on  the  railroads  in 
that  country. 

The  answer  is,  for  injuries  resulting  from  the  negli- 
gence of  the  company,  as  such,  aside  from  the  indi- 
vidual acts  of  employe's,  which  makes  the  recover- 
able cases  extremely  few.  As  before  stated,  in  no 
case,  and  in  no  event,  can  a  recovery  bB  had  for  in- 


COMMERCIAL.  85 


juries  resulting  in  death,  so  that  the  common  saying 
with  us,  that  it  is  cheaper  to  kill  than  to  injure,  is 
certainly  the  case  in  Mexico. 

Great  is  the  wonder  that  the  railroad  companies 
of  the  United  States,  in  their  desire  to  be  foreign  to 
the  jurisdictions  where  they  operate,  have  not  in- 
corporated in  Mexico  instead  of  in  New  Jersey! 

I  read  in  a  newspaper,  while  in  the  country,  of  a 
railroad  collision  in  which  one  Rurale,  riding  in  the 
caboose  of  one  of  the  trains,  was  killed;  and  the  ac- 
count ended  by  saying  that  this  was  the  only  man 
killed  on  that  line  of  railroad  that  year,  which  was 
quite  in  contrast  with  the  statement  of  the  official 
who  told  me  the  number  was  961. 

If  the  government  should  control  the  railroads  of  a 
country,  it  should  certainly  never  control  the  news- 
papers also. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  stories  we  have  heard  and 
the  accounts  we  have  read  of  the  imprisonment,  in 
Mexico,  of  railroad  men,  are  fabrications,  Wild  West 
yarns,  told  for  the  purpose  of  adventure;  but  some  of 
them  are  true,  as  must  necessarily  be  the  case  from 
what  has  already  been  said  about  the  manner  in  which 
the  business  is  conducted;  and  few  men  ever  have, 
or  ever  will,  admit  that  they  were  properly  convicted 
on  a  true  charge  after  a  fair  trial. 

I  will  relate  two  instances  which  came  within  my 
own  knowledge,  one  of  an  engineer  who  lost  consider- 
able time  coming  up  a  mountain;  and,  on  arriving 
at  the  top,  found  a  message  from  the  dispatcher  ask- 
ing why  he  had  lost  so  much  time,  to  which  he  replied 
that  by  God  he  would  give  him  time  going  down ;  and 


86  MEXICO. 

he  did,  running  so  fast  as  to  derail  some  of  the  cars 
and  kill  a  number  of  people.  Would  any  engineer 
say  that  this  man  is  not  rightly  serving  a  term  in  the 
penitentiary  ? 

The  other  was  the  case  of  a  brakeman,  who  unlaw- 
fully allowed  a  man  to  ride  on  his  train,  a  freight 
train,  on  which  no  passengers  are  allowed  to  ride  in 
Mexico,  a  very  salutary  arrangement,  receiving  for 
the  passage  the  customary  twenty-five  cents;  and, 
on  approaching  his  destination,  the  brakeman  told 
him  to  jump  off  before  reaching  the  station,  else  he 
would  be  arrested,  which,  in  doing,  he  was  killed. 
The  brakeman  was  put  in  jail.  I  leave  the  justice 
of  this  case  to  the  decision  of  the  brakemen. 

I  was  the  victim  myself  of  a  silly  report,  published 
in  the  papers  during  my  stay  in  Mexico,  that  I  had  been 
arrested  by  order  of  the  government,  and  lodged  in 
jail,  to  be  held  as  surety  or  hostage  for  the  payment 
of  some  claims  of  a  railroad  nature,  which  were  the 
object  of  my  trip  to  the  country.  While  this  report 
was  started  by  the  little  meanness  of  a  less  individual 
acting  in  his  least  capacity;  and,  as  no  information, 
at  the  time  of  its  publication,  of  either  its  truth  or 
falsity,  had  been  received  or  was  obtainable,  because, 
at  that  time,  I  was  about  one  hundred  miles  from 
railroad  or  other  communication  with  the  outside 
world,  yet  that  fact,  doubtless,  as  well  as  the  generally 
accepted  idea  about  Mexican  imprisonments,  was 
sufficient  to  give  it  the  usual  currency,  which  has 
caused  me  considerable  annoyance  and  twitting  by 
my  friends.  The  matter  went,  however,  far  beyond 
the  point  where  it  was  pleasant,  or  could  be  regarded 
as  a  joke,  because,  being  absent  for  a  few  days  from 


COMMERCIAL.  87 


communication,  and  not  being  heard  from,  the  im- 
prisonment report  in  the  United  States  gave  way  to 
one  in  Mexico  that  I  had  been  murdered. 

We  have  heard  much  lately  about  government 
ownership  of  railroads  in  Mexico ;  and,  our  informants 
assuming  that  a  step  in  the  right  direction  is  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  journey,  have  spoken  very  freely 
about  the  benefits  accruing  to  the  people,  most  of 
which  is  without  proper  foundation  on  fact,  and  the 
remainder  purely  imaginary ;  but  this  talk  is  not  with- 
out its  advantage,  as  it,  also,  is  a  step  in  the  right  di- 
rection of  furnishing,  by  agitation,  that  impetus  so 
necessary  to  the  formulation  and  accomplishment  of 
government  designs. 

Only  a  small  portion  of  the  railroad  mileage  in  Mexico 
is  owned  outright  by  the  government;  only  a  very 
small  mileage  exists  in  which  the  government  has  no 
ownership;  and,  in  the  large  majority  between  these 
extremes,  the  government  owns  only  the  controlling 
interest  in  the  stock  of  the  various  corporations,  which 
have  recently  been  consolidated  into  one  central,  hold- 
ing or  trust  company,  as  we  would  say,  so  that  the 
government  may  control  all  the  railway  corporations 
through  the  corporation  of  its  own  creation. 

This  is  the  creation  of  a  trust  on  the  most  magnifi- 
cent scale,  and  with  all  the  power  of  the  government 
behind  it.  The  result  will  be  good,  if  the  people's 
interests  are  subserved,  and  bad,  otherwise;  but  we 
cannot  assume  that  the  government  would  be  sub- 
serving the  people's  interests  by  oppressing  or  de- 
stroying the  railroads,  and  thereby  furnish  us  another 
example  of  killing  the  hen  that  daily  lays  the  golden 


88  MEXICO 

egg,  and  finding  in  her,  not  a  mass  of  gold,  but  only 
what  is  in  other  hens. 

The  government  does  not  at  all  operate,  and  does 
not  in  fact  own,  the  railroads  in  Mexico,  the  operation 
being  carried  on  by  officials  elected  or  appointed  in 
much  the  same  manner  as  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  government  interest,  in  most  cases,  being  limited 
to  the  ownership  of  a  majority  of  the  stock,  so  as  to 
give  it  control.  This  plan,  at  once,  guards  against 
private  rapacity  and  government  incompetency  in  the 
handling  of  the  railroad  property  of  the  country,  and 
makes  a  well-balanced  movement  in  its  affairs,  indi- 
viduals being  thus  prevented  from  monopolizing  and 
discriminating,  and  the  government  from  squander- 
ing; and  the  minority  stock,  as  well  as  the  bonds  of 
the  companies,  affords  a  sure  and  remunerative  in- 
vestment for  individual  investment,  large  or  small. 

How  different  has  it  been,  and  is  it  now,  with  us! 
Here,  a  railroad  company  incorporates  under  an  alias, 
because  it  does  not  mean  that  that  shall  be  its  name 
at  its  christening.  "Give  us  money,"  or  "Give  us 
money,  and  we  will  give  you  stock  or  bonds,"  it  says 
to  the  community;  "Give  us  the  right  of  way,"  it 
says  to  the  land-owner;  and,  to  the  cities  and  towns, 
"  Vacate  your  streets  and  alleys ; "  all  of  which  is  done. 
Huge  representations  are  held  out,  and  promises  faith- 
fully received,  only  to  learn  later  that  they  were 
fraudulently  given.  A  receivership,  like  death,  viewed 
with  complacency  and  not  terror  in  this  instance, 
ends  all;  and  the  immortal  corporation  is  resurrected 
under  a  new  name  and  with  a  new  power,  leaving 
nothing  dead  but  its  debts.  If,  by  chance,  any  of 
its  grave-clothes  have  stuck  to  it  in  its  hasty  flight 


COMMERCIAL.  89 


from  the  tomb,  all  it  has  to  do  is  to  die  again,  and 
thus  you  see  we  have  a  true  modern  metempsychosis, 
renovating  and  regenerating  the  corporation  until  it 
has  become  pure  fire. 

Question:   "What  is  then  left  to  the  people? 

Answer:  To  be  burned  by  it. 

The  ways  of  gods  and  men  have  been  the  same  in 
all  ages. 

Very  often,  too,  when  the  railroad  has  been  built 
many  years,  after  it  has  secured  a  good  and  paying 
business,  controlling  not  only  its  own  affairs,  but, 
also,  by  threats  and  intimidations,  rather  annihi- 
lating than  encouraging,  the  private  enterprises  of 
the  country,  which,  if  they  exist  at  all,  must  be  by  its 
favor  or  graciousness,  the  company  enters  the  field 
of  politics,  and,  by  unfair  and  unscrupulous,  op- 
pressive and  tyrannical  means  is  governing,  or,  rather, 
managing,  us,  allowing  us,  indeed,  to  retain  the  me- 
chanical privilege  of  voting,  but  denying  us  the  right 
to  select  the  candidate,  so  that,  in  reality,  while  we 
cast  a  vote,  we  cast  no  influence  in  the  event  of  the 
election;  after  all  this,  and  more,  we  are  handed  a 
proposition,  through  the  daily  press,  that  the  com- 
pany desires  to  acquire  land  in  our  town  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  large  extensions  to  its  shops  and  in- 
dustries, and  wants  us,  the  people,  to  pay  for  it  by 
the  issue  of  bonds,  because  we  have  no  ready  money, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  intimating  that  if  we,  the  peo- 
ple, do  not  do  so,  it,  the  railroad  company,  will  move 

all  its  shops  and  industries  from  our  town  to  E , 

where  the  people  are  clamoring  for  them ;  and  we,  the 
people,  succumb  under  the  pressure,  only  to  realize 
in  time  that  the  railroad  company,  so  far  from  making 


90  MEXICO. 

extensions  and  employing  more  men,  as  it  promised, 
has,  in  fact,  only  rebuilt  its  old  and  wornout  shops, 
and  replaced  its  antiquated  facilities  and  instrumen- 
talities with  the  most  modern  and  approved  appli- 
ances, so  that  now  it  performs  the  same  amount  of 
work  as  before,  and  no  more,  with  a  less  number  of 
employes;  and  we,  the  people,  instead  of  improving 
our  town  by  an  increase  in  population  and  trade,  have 
parted  with  our  money,  or  what  is  the  same  thing, 
have  bonded  ourselves  to  our  own  detriment,  losing 
not  only  in  money  and  credit,  but  also  in  the  popu- 
lation and  trade  of  our  town  as  well. 

But  I  must  drop  this  part  of  the  story,  else  I  fear  I 
shall  become  so  specific  that  someone  may  be  able  to 
pick  out  an  exact  example,  which  might  make  the 
affair  entirely  too  personal,  because  we  are  not  yet 
sure,  after  all  this,  that  this  railroad  company  does 
not  have  a  punishment  in  mind  for  us,  if  we  do  not 
submit  quietly. 

The  control  of  transportation  in  the  United  States 
by  government  ownership  of  the  properties  would  be 
the  most  difficult  and  expensive  way  of  arriving  at 
the  result,  as  a  new  department  of  government  would 
have  to  be  created  to  handle  it,  which  would  neces- 
sarily have  to  be  so  extended  that  it  would  bear  eventu- 
ally an  undue  proportion,  if  not  entirely  control  the 
government  itself;  and,  instead  of  mitigating  the  evil, 
we  would  be  overwhelmed  by  it. 

In  the  present  state  of  politics,  also,  government 
enterprises  are  undesirable.  The  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road was  completed  in  1869 ;  in  1893,  New  York  stock- 
gamblers  threw  it  into  the  hands  of  receivers  in  a  base 


COMMERCIAL.  91 


attempt  to  extinguish  the  government's  interests,  and 
to  rob  the  people,  which,  of  course,  is  always  legiti- 
mate in  the  eyes  of  stock-jobbers  and  politicians; 
and,  what  shows  a  still  greater  moral  turpitude,  these 
very  leading  citizens,  when  they  fail  in  their  attempts, 
die  martyrs  to  themselves,  blatting  to  the  world  how 
they  had  given  their  lives  to  the  people,  and  this  is 
now  their  reward ! 

When  they  succeed,  however,  as  did  a  Chicago 
grocer,  whose  case  I  am  personally  familiar  with,  who 
turned  traitor  to  his  party  because  he  could  not  domi- 
nate it,  and  received,  as  his  share  of  the  spoils,  a  di- 
rectorship in  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  Company, 
in  the  interest,  or,  rather  to  the  prejudice,  of  the  gov- 
ernment, which,  at  that  time,  still  owned  stock  in  that 
company,  the  situation  is  somewhat  different.  Until 
this  time,  this  grocery  house  had  been  in  either  financial 
straits  or  short  of  money;  but,  after  this,  it  emerged 
from  all  financial  troubles,  and  its  owner,  in  addition, 
built  a  castle  on  the  Lake  Front.  When  this  erstwhile 
grocer,  then  railroad  director,  lost  out,  as  lose  he  must, 
on  change  of  parties  in  power,  which  soon  came  again, 
and  he  was  down  and  out,  even  with  the  enemy,  which 
always  happens  to  a  traitor,  he  had  the  effrontery  to 
try  to  turn  philosopher,  and  exercise  a  general  con- 
trol over  the  minds  of  men  by  his  writings,  not  then 
appreciating  what  he  has  since  learned,  that  he  is  an 
object  of  the  contempt  of  all  mankind,  and  that  false- 
hood, from  the  mouth  of  an  enemy,  is  more  accept- 
able than  truth. 

Everybody  remembers  about  this  Union  Pacific  re- 
ceivership; how  that  the  company  was  not  in  failing 
circumstances,  and  that  the  fraud  and  crime  of  the 


92  MEXICO. 

Gould  interests  were  responsible  for  it  in  an  attempt 
to  rob  the  people  of  their  share ;  and  that,  in  the  wind- 
up,  the  property  sold  for  enough  to  pay  all  claims  and 
indebtedness;  that  this  road  has  been  a  great  money- 
maker ever  since ;  that  it  always  was  a  good  property ; 
and  that,  under  any  sort  of  decent  management,  it 
always  will  be. 

So  great  was  the  public  loot  that  all  officers  and 
representatives  of  the  people  in  Congress  assembled, 
to  use  the  dignified  phrase,  actually  lost  sight  of  the 
public  character  of  the  Union  Pacific,  treating  it  en- 
tirely as  a  business  enterprise  for  their  own  personal 
gain ;  and  all  will  remember  how  prominent  the  figures 
329  were  in  one  of  our  political  campaigns,  but  which 
were  ineffectual  as  against  brazen-faced  political  rob- 
bery. 

The  failure  of  the  government  in  this  railroad  en- 
terprise by  reason  -of  the  prevalence  of,  and  frequent 
hold-ups  by,  many  and  large  gangs  of  both  private 
and  political  highwaymen,  should  furnish  no  argu- 
ment that  the  people  should  continue,  without  re- 
sistance, to  submit  to  outrages. 

I  now  propose  to  show  how,  without  ownership  in 
fact,  or  control  in  general,  and  without  the  enactment 
of  general  laws  regulating  charges,  which  have  such  a 
long  and  devious  run  in  the  courts,  the  government 
can  still  control  transportation  in  the  United  States: 

By  purchasing  a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock  of 
a  single  line  of  railroad  between  New  York  city  and 
Chicago,  so  that  the  government  can  make  its  own 
schedule  of  rates,  and  then  make  and  enforce  them, 
that  part  of  the  country  has  secured  the  necessary  re- 
lief. This  is  easy  and  inexpensive. 


COMMERCIAL.  93 


If  rates  from  Mississippi  river  points  to  the  Pacific 
are  unjust,  and  the  service  unsatisfactory,  the  gov- 
ernment should,  likewise,  purchase  a  controlling  in- 
terest in  the  stock  of  one  of  the  through  lines,  reduce 
the  rates,  and  improve  the  service.  This  is,  also,  easy 
and  inexpensive. 

If  the  stock-jobbers  in  New  York  city,  who  now 
run  all  the  railroads  in  the  United  States,  do  not  take 
warning,  and  the  rates  to  the  Gulf  remain  excessive 
and  the  service  poor,  the  government  can  purchase 
a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock  of  a  railroad  from 
the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  and  proceed  to  the  same 
end. 

In  like  manner  should  the  government  come  in  to 
relieve  the  coal  situation,  which  can  be  done  by  con- 
demning sufficient  coal  lands,  if  they  cannot  be  pur- 
chased at  a  reasonable  price,  and  mining  and  market- 
ing sufficient  coal  to  control  the  market  at  just  and 
fair  prices.  This  will  give  the  remedy,  and  no  general 
ownership  of  all  the  coal  in  the  United  States,  but 
only  an  extremely  small  portion  of  it,  need  be  con- 
templated. 

The  oil  situation  has  become  very  acute,  and  greater 
expenditure  and  difficulty  would  be  required  to  break 
the  back  of  that  monster,  because  it  would  not  respond 
to  more  gentle  treatment;  but  it  can  be  done  in  this 
manner. 

At  present  we  are  laboring  under  immense  difficulty ; 
we  have  allowed  things  to  go  on  from  bad  to  worse,  until 
the  people  have  been  crowded  out,  and  heroic  means 
will  be  required  to  reinstate  them;  but,  in  our  at- 
tempts to  regain  the  ascendency,  we  are  using  methods 
which  only  heap  more  losses  on  the  people,  and  do 


94  MEXICO. 

our  antagonists  no  harm.  Members  of  the  Chicago 
Beef  Combine  were  heavily  fined  for  maintaining  a 
trust,  but  they  still  maintain  prices  by  agreement, 
higher  now  than  before  the  prosecution,  so  that  the 
people  have  paid  the  fines,  not  once,  but  many  times 
over.  Great  is  the  praise  which  should  immortalize 
the  politicians  who  brought  about  this  victory!  Rail- 
road companies  have  been  fined  enormous  sums  for 
rate  discriminations;  but  freight  rates  have  been  ad- 
vanced to  cover  these  fines,  so  that  the  people  have 
paid  them,  are  paying  them,  and  will  continue  to  pay 
them,  many  times  over.  In  the  lifetime  of  the  men 
who  brought  the  people  this  victory,  great  statues 
should  be  erected  to  them,  that  they  might  be  able 
to  see  their  own  glory!  The  Standard  Oil  Company 
has  been  fined  a  small  sum  in  proportion  to  its  public 
extortions,  yet  the  people  are  nightly,  in  the  flicker 
of  their  lamps,  laying  by  a  fund  for  that  company 
anent  the  day  of  payment. 

By  a  system  of  control,  by  competition,  on  the  part 
of  the  government,  the  whole  situation  could  be  easily 
handled  at  a  comparatively  small  expense,  as  com- 
pared with  the  total  value  of  all  the  railroad  property 
in  the  United  States. 

Above  everything,  these  should  be  business  under- 
takings on  the  part  of  the  government,  so  that  a 
profit  of  five  or  six  percent,  on  a  fair  value  of  the  prop- 
erty, would  accrue  to  those  having  invested  in  the 
enterprise,  as  w7ell  as  to  the  government  itself.  This 
would  bring  other  railroads  down  to  the  same  basis, 
to  a  fair  income  on  a  fair  value,  with  the  property 
economically  managed. 

Such  a  system  as  this  should  be  removed  as  far  as 


COMMERCIAL.  95 


possible  from  the  vehemence  of  party  politics;  it 
should  know  no  party,  and  be  subject  to  no  vicissi- 
tudes on  the  change  of  party  in  power.  All  positions, 
whether  of  officers  or  employe's,  should  be  for  life,  or 
during  competency  and  good  behavior. 

The  property  of  a  country,  as  far  as  possible,  should 
always  be  owned  by  its  citizens;  and,  where  the  gov- 
ernment must  interfere  on  account  of  individual  ra- 
pacity, stop  should  be  made  at  the  instant  of  control. 
Such  great  enterprises  as  the  railway  systems  of  a 
country  ought  always,  as  far  as  possible,  be  open  to 
individual  investment,  which  seems  to  be  now  entirely 
lost  to  the  people,  and  concentrated  into  the  hands 
of  the  stock-jobbers  in  New  York  city,  to  the  extent 
that  half  a  dozen  people  now  control  all  the  railroads 
in  the  country.  This  has  been  brought  about  by  dis- 
honest means  and  unfair  practices,  resulting  in  forc- 
ing out  at  a  loss,  either  by  compulsion  or  from  fear  of 
losing  all,  those  people  who  sought,  in  the  stocks  and 
bonds  of  these  companies,  a  remunerative  investment 
for  their  savings. 

These  savings  are  now  going  into  real  estate,  with 
the  result  that  lands  are  becoming  so  high,  as  to  ren- 
der agriculture,  in  some  localities  at  least,  unprofit- 
able, which  condition  is  on  the  increase.  Labor  has 
turned  to  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and,  hence,  its  scarcity 
in  trade,  industries,  manufacture,  and  in  towns  and 
cities  generally,  is  accounted  for. 

If  railroad  securities  could  again  be  returned  to  the 
public  as  an  honest,  safe  and  remunerative  field  for 
investment,  the  tension  now  on  land  would  be  relieved ; 
and,  if  the  government  would  secure  controlling  in- 
terests in  a  few  of  the  great  railway  systems  of  the 


96  MEXICO. 

country  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  give  them  the 
respectability  of  honesty,  now  completely  lost  to  them, 
and  of  restoring  confidence  in  their  securities,  so  that 
people  would  feel  safe  in  investing  their  money  in 
them,  a  great  gain  would  accrue  to  the  country  at 
large  in  this  one  feature  alone,  aside  from  the  general 
gain  to  the  country  in  fairness  of  rates,  decency  of 
management  and  safety  of  operation,  all  of  which,  at 
this  time,  are  deplorably  lacking. 

Absolute  government  ownership  of  the  railroads  in 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  other  great  and  general 
enterprise,  must  result  in  failure,  because  the  govern- 
ment then  aggregates  to  itself  the  position  of  proprie- 
tor, where  it  should  only  control.  Governments  were 
created  to  control,  not  to  own;  ownership  should 
always  be  reserved  to  the  people,  either  individually 
or  collectively,  as  persons  or  as  corporations;  and, 
only  to  put  an  end  to  injustice,  monopolies  and  op- 
pressions at  the  hands  of  the  rapacious,  should  the 
government  come  to  the  rescue. 

Competition,  as  an  element  in  trade,  is  now  only 
influential  by  its  absence,  so  that  we  must  look  else- 
where for  relief,  or  be  without  it ;  and  this  applies  not 
only  to  railroads,  but  to  all  other  large  and  extended 
enterprises  as  well. 

Municipal  ownership  of  necessary  industries,  where 
the  people  can  keep  a  constant  and  close  watch  over 
them,  would  seem  to  be  an  exception  to  this  general 
rule  against  governmental  ownership  on  a  large  scale; 
but  the  exception  is  only  seeming,  as,  in  all  propriety, 
the  government  should  only  own  its  own  capitol  and 
other  buildings  and  instrumentalities  necessary  for 
the  transaction  of  its  own  affairs ;  and  its  investments 


COMMERCIAL.  97 


in  business  enterprises  should  only  be  by  force  of  con- 
ditions. On  the  same  principle,  towns  and  cities 
should  own  only  their  own  public  buildings,  and  force 
of  conditions  should  alone  impel  them  into  municipal 
ownership;  and,  I  might  add,  that  the  necessary  con- 
ditions, making  municipal  ownership  desirable,  seem 
now  to  be  almost  everywhere  present;  to  wit,  ex- 
cessive charges  and  ^poorness  of  service  on  the  part 
of  the  persons  or  corporations  possessing  the  franchises. 

I  want  to  call  the  attention  of  those  who  feel  them- 
selves wedded  to  government  ownership  of  all  great 
enterprises  in  general,  or  to  any  individual  hobby  in 
particular,  to  the  fact  that  banking  by  government, 
whenever  or  wherever  tried,  has  always  ended  in  dis- 
aster and  ruin,  if  persisted  in. 

A  government  should  control  its  money,  not  own  it. 
Ownership  of  the  money  of  a  country,  except  so  much 
as  is  necessary  to  pay  the  expense  of  running  the  gov- 
ernment, should  be  in  the  people.  Governments 
should  possess  nothing,  except  that  given  them  by 
the  people.  In  a  well-ordered  nation,  the  people  are 
supreme,  and  the  government  only  their  instrument. 
Reverse  affairs,  and  we  have  an  instance  of  the  in- 
strument being  turned  against  the  people. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
RELIGIOUS. 

Religion  is  the  subject  of  the  longest  chapter  in 
Anthropology,  a  science  yet  alive,  and,  therefore,  of 
the  greatest  concern  to  man,  as,  also,  the  cause  of 
almost  all  his  woe.  In  his  efforts  to  extricate  himself 
from  his  difficulties,  man  turns  to  hope,  only  to  be 
intercepted  by  the  priest  who  turns  hope  to  profit, 
and  man  eventually  into  despondency. 

Fear  is  the  predominating  mental  state  of  primitive 
man,  and  is  his  first  religion,  purely  a  fear  of  personal 
violence  from  his  natural  enemies,  the  burning  heat 
of  the  equator  and  the  freezing  cold  of  the  poles,  the 
savage  animals  surrounding  him,  disputing  his  do- 
mains, and,  above  all,  his  more  savage  fellow-man. 
All  these  he  anathematizes  as  inimical  to  himself, 
so  that  he  first  curses  before  he  learns  to  pray  and 
bless;  and,  as  want  is  necessary  to  the  establishment 
and  appreciation  of  benefits,  he  is  only  now  brought 
to  a  realization  of  his  need  of  aid,  first  to  be  sought  in 
his  fellow-man,  as  companions,  friends,  allies,  then,  in 
arms,  weapons,  engines,  and  lastly,  in  appeals  to  the 
unseen,  the  supposed,  the  unknown;  so,  we  see,  the 
gods  were  the  last  development  of  fear,  "Fear  God," 
the  last  injunction  to  man. 

Religion,  thus  far,  is  a  natural  development  from 
conditions,  and,  hence,  natural  religion;  only  details 

[98] 


RELIGIOUS.  99 


need  now  be  provided  for ;  and  these  are  found  in  the 
refinement  of  man,  appearing  as  general,  under  the 
dominion  of  universal  principles,  as  special,  under  the 
force  of  local  circumstances,  as  individual,  in  com- 
pliance with  interest. 

Sacrifice  is  the  greatest  and  most  predominating 
universal  principle  of  religion,  sacrifice  first  of  man, 
then  of  wealth,  then  of  idea. 

Granting  that  the  Mexicans,  as  all  other  men,  passed 
orderly  through  the  developments  of  natural  religion, 
only  to  be  determined,  like  the  creation  of  suns  and 
systems,  on  principles  of  philosophy,  we  stand  now 
face  to  face  with  this  first  and  greatest  refinement  of 
man,  sacrifice. 

As,  of  course,  I  will  have  to  depend  entirely  upon 
history  for  what  follows,  I  might  as  well  quote  it  di- 
rectly : 

Human  sacrifices  were  adopted  by  the  Aztecs  early 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  about  two  hundred  years 
before  the  Conquest.  Rare  at  first,  they  became  more 
frequent  with  the  wider  extent  of  their  empire,  till, 
at  length,  almost  every  festival  was  closed  with  this 
cruel  abomination.  These  religious  ceremonials  were 
generally  arranged  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford  a  type 
of  the  most  prominent  circumstances  in  the  character 
or  history  of  the  deity  who  was  the  object  of  them. 
(Prescott's  Conquest.) 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  festivals  was 
in  honor  of  the  god  Tezcatlipoca,  handsome  and  power- 
ful, the  soul  and  creator  of  the  world,  and  inferior  only 
to  the  Supreme  Being.  The  sacrifice  for  this  festival 
is  thus  described : 

A  year  before  the  intended  sacrifice,  a  captive,  dis- 
tinguished for  his  personal  beauty,  and  without  a 


100  MEXICO. 

blemish  on  his  body,  was  selected  to  represent  this 
deity.  Certain  tutors  took  charge  of  him,  and  in- 
structed him  how  to  perform  his  new  part  with  be- 
coming grace  and  dignity.  He  was  arrayed  in  a  splen- 
did dress,  regaled  with  incense  and  with  a  profusion 
of  sweet-scented  flowers,  of  which  the  ancient  Mexi- 
cans were  as  fond  as  their  descendants  at  the  present 
day.  When  he  went  abroad,  he  was  attended  by  a 
train  of  royal  pages,  and,  as  he  halted  in  the  streets  to 
play  some  favorite  melody,  the  crowd  prostrated  them- 
selves before  him,  and  did  him  homage  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  their  good  deity.  In  this  way  he  led  an 
easy,  luxurious  life,  till  within  a  month  of  his  sacrifice. 
Four  beautiful  girls,  bearing  the  names  of  the  principal 
goddesses,  were  then  selected  to  share  the  honors  of 
his  bed;  and  with  them  he  continued  to  live  in  idle 
dalliance,  feasted  at  the  banquets  of  the  principal 
nobles,  who  paid  him  all  the  honors  of  a  divinity. 

At  length  the  fatal  day  of  sacrifice  arrived.  The 
term  of  his  short-lived  glories  was  at  an  end.  He  was 
stripped  of  his  gaudy  apparel,  and  bade  adieu  to  the 
fair  partners  of  his  revelries.  One  of  the  royal  barges 
transported  him  across  the  lake  to  a  temple  which 
rose  on  its  margin,  about  a  league  from  the  city. 
Hither  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  flocked  to  wit- 
ness the  consummation  of  the  ceremony.  As  the  sad 
procession  wound  up  the  sides  of  the  pyramid,  the  un- 
happy victim  threw  away  his  gay  chaplet  of  flowers, 
and  broke  in  pieces  the  musical  instruments  with 
which  he  had  solaced  the  hours  of  captivity.  On  the 
summit  he  was  received  by  six  priests,  whose  long  and 
matted  locks  flowed  disorderly  over  their  sable  robes, 
covered  with  hieroglyphic  scrolls  of  mystic  import. 
They  led  him  to  the  sacrificial  stone,  (now  to  be  seen 
in  the  museum  of  the  City  of  Mexico),  a  huge'  block 
of  jasper,  with  its  upper  surface  somewhat  convex. 
[Error;  should  be  concave,  as  I  myself  saw.]  On  this 
the  prisoner  was  stretched.  Five  priests  secured  his 
head  and  his  limbs,  while  the  sixth,  clad  in  a  scarlet 


RELIGIOUS.  101 


mantle,  emblematic  of  his  bloody  office,  dexterously 
opened  the  breast  of  the  wretched  victim  with  a  sharp 
razor  of  itztli,  (obsidian),  a  volcanic  substance,  hard 
as  flint,  and,  inserting  his  hand  in  the  wound,  tore 
out  the  palpitating  heart.  The  minister  of  death, 
first  holding  this  up  towards  the  sun,  an  object  of 
worship  throughout  Anahuac,  cast  it  at  the  feet  of 
the  deity  to  whom  the  temple  was  devoted,  while  the 
multitudes  below  prostrated  themselves  in  humble 
adoration.  The  tragic  story  of  this  prisoner  was  ex- 
pounded by  the  priests  as  the  type  of  human  destiny, 
which,  brilliant  in  its  commencement,  too  often  closes 
in  sorrow  and  disaster. 

Such  was  the  form  of  human  sacrifice  usually  prac- 
ticed by  the  Aztecs.  It  was  the  same  that  often  met 
the  indignant  eyes  of  the  Europeans,  in  their  progress 
through  the  country,  and  from  the  dreadful  doom  of 
which  they  themselves  were  not  exempt.  There  were, 
indeed,  some  occasions  when  preliminary  tortures,  of 
the  most  exquisite  kind,  with  which  it  is  unnecessary 
to  shock  the  reader,  were  inflicted,  but  they  always 
terminated  with  the  bloody  ceremony  above  described. 
It  should  be  remarked,  however,  that  such  tortures 
were  hot  the  spontaneous  suggestions  of  cruelty,  as 
with  the  North  American  Indians,  but  were  all  rigor- 
ously prescribed  in  the  Aztec  ritual,  and  doubtless 
were  often  inflicted  with  the  same  compunctious  visit- 
ings  which  a  devout  familiar  of  the  Holy  Office  might 
at  times  experience  in  executing  its  stern  decrees. 
Women,  as  well  as  the  other  sex,  were  sometimes  re- 
served for  sacrifice.  On  some  occasions,  particularly 
in  seasons  of  drought,  at  the  festival  of  the  insatiable 
Tlaloc,  the  god  of  rain,  children,  for  the  most  part, 
infants,  were  offered  up.  As  they  wrere  borne  along 
-  in  open  litters,  dressed  in  their  festal  robes,  and  decked 
with  the  fresh  blossoms  of  spring,  they  moved  the 
hardest  heart  to  pity,  though  their  cries  were  drowned 
in  the  wild  chant  of  the  priests,  who  read  in  their 
tears  a  favorable  augury  for  their  petition.  These 


102  MEXICO. 

innocent  victims  were  generally  bought  by  the  priests 
of  parents  who  were  poor,  and  who  stifled  the  voice 
of  nature,  probably  less  at  the  suggestions  of  poverty 
than  of  a  wretched  superstition. 

The  most  loathsome  part  of  the  story,  the  manner 
in  which  the  body  of  the  sacrificed  captive  was  dis- 
posed of,  remains  yet  to  be  told.  It  was  delivered 
to  the  warrior  who  had  taken  him  in  battle,  and  by 
him,  after  being  dressed,  was  served  up  in  an  enter- 
tainment to  his  friends.  This  was  not  the  coarse 
repast  of  famished  cannibals,  but  a  banquet  teeming 
with  delicious  beverages  and  delicate  viands,  pre- 
pared with  art,  and  attended  by  both  sexes,  who,  as 
we  shall  hereafter  see,  conducted  themselves  with  all 
the  decorum  of  civilized  life.  (Prescott's  Conquest.) 

From  this  most  terrible,  nauseating  and  revolting 
picture  of  so  awful  a  custom,  we  are  more  than  anxious 
to  turn  quickly  away  to  the  sublime  truths  and  sacred 
practices  of  our  own  religion: 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  God  did 
tempt  Abraham,  and  said  unto  him,  Abraham:  and 
he  said,  Behold,  here  I  am. 

And  he  said,  Take  now  thy  son,  thine  only  son  Isaac, 
whom  thou  lovest,  and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah ; 
and  offer  him  there  for  a  burnt  offering  upon  one  of 
the  mountains  which  I  will  tell  thee  of. 

And  Abraham  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and 
saddled  his  ass,  and  took  two  of  his  young  men  with 
him,  and  Isaac  his  son,  and  clave  the  wood  for  the 
burnt  offering,  and  rose  up,  and  went  unto  the  place 
of  which  God  had  told  him. 

Then  on  the  third  day  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
and  saw  the  place  afar  off. 

And  Abraham  said  unto  his  young  men,  abide  ye 
here  with  the  ass;  and  I  and  the  lad  will  go  yonder 
and  worship,  and  come  again  to  you. 

And  Abraham  took  the  wood  of  the  burnt  offering, 


RELIGIOUS.  103 


and  laid  it  upon  Isaac  his  son;  and  he  took  the  fire 
in  his  hand,  and  a  knife;  and  they  went  both  of  them 
together. 

And  Isaac  spake  unto  Abraham  his  father,  and  said, 
My  father:  and  he  said,  Here  am  I,  my  son.  And  he 
said,  Behold  the  fire  and  the  wood:  but  where  is  the 
lamb  for  a  burnt  offering? 

And  Abraham  said,  My  son,  God  will  provide  him- 
self a  lamb  for  a  burnt  offering :  so  they  went  both  of 
them  together. 

And  they  came  to  the  place  which  God  had  told  him 
of;  and  Abraham  built  an  altar  there,  and  laid  the 
wood  in  order,  and  bound  Isaac  his  son,  and  laid  him 
on  the  altar  upon  the  wood. 

And  Abraham  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  took 
the  knife  to  slay  his  son. 

And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  called  unto  him  out  of 
heaven,  and  said,  Abraham,  Abraham:  and  he  said, 
Here  am  I. 

And  he  said,  Lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad, 
neither  do  thou  any  thing  unto  him ;  for  now  I  know 
that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld 
thy  son,  thine  only  son  from  me. 

And  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  looked,  and 
behold  behind  him  a  ram  caught  in  a  thicket  by  his 
horns:  and  Abraham  went  and  took  the  ram,  and 
offered  him  up  for  a  burnt  offering  in  the  stead  of  his  son. 

And  Abraham  called  the  name  of  that  place  Je- 
hovah-jireh:  as  it  is  said  to  this  day,  In  the  mount  of 
the  Lord  it  shall  be  seen. 

And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  called  unto  Abraham  out 
out  of  heaven  the  second  time, 

And  said,  By  myself  have  I  sworn,  saith  the  Lord, 
for  because  thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not 
withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son: 

That  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiply- 
ing I  will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  the  heaven, 
and  as  the  sand  which  is  upon  the  sea  shore;  and  thy 
seed  shall  possess  the  gate  of  his  enemies; 


104  MEXICO. 

And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed;  because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice. 

So  Abraham  returned  unto  his  young  men,  and  they 
rose  up  and  went  together  to  Beer-sheba;  and  Abra- 
ham dwelt  at  Beer-sheba.  (Genesis  xxii,  1  to  18.) 

Thou  shalt  not  delay  to  offer  the  first  of  thy  ripe 
fruits,  and  of  thy  liquors;  the  first  born  of  thy  sons 
shalt  thou  give  unto  me.  (Exodus  xxii,  29.) 

Notwithstanding  no  devoted  thing,  that  a  man  shall 
devote  unto  the  Lord  of  all  that  he  hath,  both  of  man 
and  beast,  and  of  the  field  of  his  possession,  shall  be 
sold  or  redeemed:  every  devoted  thing  is  most  holy 
unto  the  Lord. 

None  devoted,  which  shall  be  devoted  of  men,  shall 
be  redeemed;  but  shall  surely  be  put  to  death. 

(Leviticus  xxvii,  28,  29.) 

And  I,  behold,  I  [the  Lord  speaking  to  Aaron]  have 
taken  your  brethren  the  Levites  from  among  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel:  to  you  they  are  given  as  a  gift  for  the 
Lord,  to  do  the  service  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

Therefore  thou  and  thy  sons  with  thee  shall  keep 
your  priests'  office  for  every  thing  of  the  altar,  and 
within  the  vail;  and  ye  shall  serve:  I  have  given 
your  priests'  office  unto  you  as  a  service  of  gift;  and 
the  stranger  that  cometh  nigh  shall  be  put  to  death. 

And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Aaron,  Behold,  I  also 
have  given  thee  the  charge  of  mine  heave  offerings 
of  all  the  hallowed  things  of  the  children  of  Israel; 
unto  thee  have  I  given  them  by  reason  of  the  anoint- 
ing, and  to  thy  sons,  by  an  ordinance  for  ever. 

This  shall  be  thine  of  the  most  holy  things,  reserved 
from  the  fire:  every  oblation  of  theirs,  every  meat 
offering  of  theirs,  and  every  sin  offering  of  theirs, 
and  every  trespass  offering  of  theirs,  which  they  shall 
render  unto  me,  shall  be  most  holy  for  thee  and  for 
thy  sons. 

In  the  most  holy  place  shalt  thou  eat  it ;  every  male 
shall  eat  it :  it  shall  be  holy  unto  thee. 


RELIGIOUS.  105 


And  this  is  thine;  the  heave  offering  of  their  gift, 
with  all  the  wave  offerings  of  the  children  of  Israel: 
I  have  given  them  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  sons  and  to 
thy  daughters  with  thee,  by  a  statute  for  ever:  every 
one  that  is  clean  in  thy  house  shall  eat  of  it. 

All  the  best  of  the  oil,  and  all  the  best  of  the  wine, 
and  of  the  wheat,  the  first  fruits  of  them  which  they 
shall  offer  unto  the  Lord,  them  have  I  given  thee. 

And  whatsoever  is  first  ripe  in  the  land,  which  they 
shall  bring  unto  the  Lord,  shall  be  thine;  every  one 
that  is  clean  in  thine  house  shall  eat  of  it. 

Every  thing  devoted  in  Israel  shall  be  thine. 

Every  thing  that  openeth  the  matrix  in  all  flesh, 
which  they  bring  unto  the  Lord,  whether  it  be  of  men 
or  beasts,  shall  be  thine:  nevertheless  the  firstborn 
of  man  shalt  thou  surely  redeem,  and  the  firstling  of 
unclean  beasts  shalt  thou  redeem. 

(Numbers  xviii,  6  to  15.) 

And  Jephthah  vowed  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  and  said, 
If  thou  shalt  without  fail  deliver  the  children  of  Ammon 
into  my  hands. 

Then  it  shall  be,  that  whatsoever  cometh  forth  of 
the  doors  of  my  house  to  meet  me,  when  I  return  in 
peace  from  the  children  of  Ammon,  shall  surely  be 
the  Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt  offering. 

So  Jephthah  passed  over  unto  the  children  of  Ammon 
to  fight  against  them;  and  the  Lord  delivered  them 
into  his  hands. 

And  he  smote  them  from  Aroer,  even  till  thou  come 
to  Minnith,  even  twenty  cities,  and  unto  the  plain  of 
the  vineyards,  with  a  very  great  deal  of  slaughter. 
Thus  the  children  of  Ammon  were  subdued  before  the 
children  of  Israel. 

And  Jephthah  came  to  Mizpeh,  unto  his  house,  and 
behold,  his  daughter  came  out  to  meet  him  with 
timbrels  and  with  dances;  and  she  was  his  only  child; 
beside  her  he  had  neither  son  nor  daughter. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  saw  her,  that  he  rent 
his  clothes,  and  said,  Alas,  my  daughter!  thou  hast 


106  MEXICO. 

brought  me  very  low,  and  thou  art  one  of  them  that 
trouble  me:  for  I  have  opened  my  mouth  unto  the 
Lord,  and  I  cannot  go  back. 

And  she  said  unto  him,  My  father,  if  thou  hast 
opened  thy  mouth  unto  the  Lord,  do  to  me  according 
to  that  which  hath  proceeded  out  of  thy  mouth;  for- 
asmuch as  the  Lord  hath  taken  vengeance  for  thee  of 
thine  enemies,  even  of  the  children  of  Ammon. 

And  she  said  unto  her  father,  Let  this  thing  be  done 
for  me:  Let  me  alone  two  months,  that  I  may  go  up 
and  down  upon  the  mountains,  and  bewail  my  vir- 
ginity, I  and  my  fellows. 

And  he  said,  Go.  And  he  sent  her  away  for  two 
months:  and  she  went  with  her  companions,  and  be- 
wailed her  virginity  upon  the  mountains. 

And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  two  months,  that 
she  returned  unto  her  father,  who  did  with  her  accord- 
ing to  his  vow  which  he  had  vowTed :  and  she  knew  no 
man.  And  it  was  a  custom  in  Israel, 

That  the  daughters  of  Israel  went  yearly  to  lament 
the  daughter  of  Jephthah  the  Gileadite  four  days  in 
a  year.  (Judges  xi,  30  to  40.) 

In  his  days  did  Kiel  the  Beth-elite  build  Jericho: 
he  laid  the  foundation  thereof  in  Abiram  his  firstborn, 
and  set  up  the  gates  thereof  in  his  youngest  son  Segub, 
according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  he  spake  by 
Joshua  the  son  of  Nun.  [Next  following.] 

(I  Kings  xvi,  34.) 

And  Joshua  adjured  them  at  that  time,  saying, 
Cursed  be  the  man  before  the  Lord,  that  riseth  up  and 
buildeth  this  city  Jericho :  He  shall  lay  the  foundation 
thereof  in  his  firstborn,  and  in  his  youngest  son  shall 
he  set  up  the  gates  of  it.  (Joshua  vi,  26.) 

The  Druids,  our  ancestors,  had  the  same  custom  of 
sacrificing  a  human  being  under  the  foundation-stones 
of  their  temples;  and,  I  believe,  when  the  corner- 


RELIGIOUS.  107 


stone  of  the  Kremlin  was  laid,  a  beautiful  woman  was 
buried  alive  beneath  it. 

Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or 
with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil?  shall  I  give  my 
firstborn  for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body 
for  the  sin  of  my  soul?  (Micah  vi,  7.) 

When  Pilate  therefore  heard  that  saying  [that,  if 
he  let  Jesus  go,  he  would  not  be  loyal  to  Caesar],  he 
brought  Jesus  forth  and  sat  down  in  the  judgment  seat 
in  a  place  that  is  called  the  Pavement,  but  in  the 
Hebrew,  Gabbatha. 

And  it  was  the  preparation  of  the  passover,  and 
about  the  sixth  hour:  and  he  saith  unto  the  Jews, 
Behold  your  King! 

But  they  cried  out,  Away  with  him,  away  with  him, 
crucify  him.  Pilate  saith  unto  them,  Shall  I  crucify 
your  King?  The  chief  priests  answered,  We  have  no 
king  but  Caesar. 

Then  delivered  he  him  therefore  unto  them  to  be 
crucified.  And  they  took  Jesus  and  led  him  away. 

And  he  bearing  his  cross  went  forth  into  a  place 
called  the  place  of  a  skull,  which  is  called  in  the  Hebrew 
Golgotha : 

Where  they  crucified  him,  and  two  other  with  him, 
on  either  side  one,  and  Jesus  in  the  midst. 

(St.  John  xix,  13  to  18.) 

The  purpose  of  this  sacrifice  is  stated  thus: 

And  if  ye  call  on  the  Father,  who  without  respect 
of  persons  judgeth  according  to  every  man's  work, 
pass  the  time  of  your  sojourning  here  in  fear: 

Forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  ye  were  not  redeemed 
with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and  gold,  from  your 
vain  conversation  received  by  tradition  from  your 
fathers ; 

But  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb 
without  blemish  and  without  spot: 


108  MEXICO. 

Who  verily  was  foreordained  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  but  was  manifest  in  these  last  times  for 
you, 

Who  by  him  do  believe  in  God,  that  raised  him  up 
from  the  dead,  and  gave  him  glory;  that  your  faith 
and  hope  might  be  in  God. 

(I  Peter  i,  17  to  21.) 

And  thus  we  see  that  the  object  of  all  sacrifice  has 
ever  been  to  obtain  good  gifts  from  a  divinity. 

The  material  then  passed  into  the  emblematic,  but 
by  some  still  thought  real,  while  still  others  only  re- 
vere it  as  a  custom  :  this  broken  bread  is  my  wounded 
body;  this  drawn  wine,  my  shed  blood;  eat,  drink. 

From  the  foregoing,  the  great  and  sad  truth  appears, 
that  the  priests  introduced  sacrifice,  as  a  refinement 
upon  natural  religion;  that  sacrifice  produced  canni- 
balism ;  and,  let  me  whisper  it  softly  close  to  the  ear, 
that  that  custom  is  still  commemorated  in  emblem, 
symbol  or  form  among  us. 

Natural  religion  man  always  has  had,  and,  doubt- 
less, always  will  have;  and,  in  this,  he  finds  a  satis- 
faction for  all  the  longings  of  the  soul;  but,  beyond 
this,  he  encounters  the  church,  that  corporation,  that 
trust,  created  to  monopolize  and  control  his  life  on 
earth  and  his  hope  in  heaven  for  the  benefit  of  its 
stockholders,  the  priests. 

The  revolt  of  human  feeling  against  such  practices 
brings  me  to  the  next  subdivision  of  my  subject,  the 
sacrifice  of  wealth. 

Religion,  once  established,  like  all  human  insti- 
tutions, had  to  be  maintained  by  wealth,  the  ex- 
ponent of  power.  Blood  had  created;  but  once 
created,  the  flow  of  blood,  in  true  analogy,  must  now 


RELIGIOUS.  109 


weaken  and  destroy ;  the  priest  must  stanch  the  flow, 
or  perish  in  the  flood ;  this  he  does  by  opening  a  sluice 
from  wealth,  and  closing  that  from  man;  and,  in  Mex- 
ico, as  the  world  over,  the  blood  of  man  is  replaced  by 
that  of  animals;  and,  later,  by  grains,  fruits  and 
flowers,  with  a  residue  to  the  priest. 

The  priest  must  have  robes,  altars,  temples,  and, 
hence,  wealth  must  be  directly  applied,  without  pass- 
ing through  purifying  fires;  and  is,  also,  more  re- 
luctantly sacrificed  than  man. 

The  sacrifice  of  an  idea  comes  last,  and  is  most 
stubbornly  surrendered. 

At  this  point,  we  find  the  human  race  debased, 
plunged  in  ignorance,  and  the  chattels  of  the  church, 
from  which  condition  the  Renaissance,  the  revival  of 
learning,  heathen  learning,  if  you  please,  and  not  the 
Reformation,  emancipated  them. 

As  a  special  principle  of  religion,  under  the  force 
of  local  circumstances,  I  mention  policy  in  the  govern- 
ment of  a  state;  and,  as  individual,  in  compliance 
with  interest,  personal  aggrandizement ;  and,  with 
this,  I  close  the  general  view  of  religion;  because  the 
subject  is  interminable,  and  my  book  must  have  a 
speedy  end. 

The  beginning  of  our  era  was  the  beginning  of  our 
religion,  dating  from  the  birth  of  its  founder,  as  we 
ordinarily  say;  but,  if  we  were  to  speak  more  after 
the  fact,  we  would  say  that  the  Christian  religion  had 
its  beginning  with  the  doctrines,  the  opinions,  of  the 
priesthood,  deduced  from  the  sayings,  the  teachings, 
the  philosophy,  attributed  to  Christ,  whose  birth  was, 
by  his  followers,  disciples,  and  partisans,  considered 


110  MEXICO. 

of  such  importance,  as,  if  not  to  mark  the  beginning 
of  time,  at  least  the  beginning  of  a  new  period  of  com- 
putation. The  almost  universal  method  of  reckoning 
time  then  was  to  begin  a  new  era  from  the  accession 
of  a  new  king ;  and  the  birth  of  this  new  King  of  Men, 
who  was  to  have  no  coronation,  except  with  thorns 
at  his  death  or  sacrifice,  was  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
That  kingdom  is  still  among  us,  in  the  dates  we  use. 

At  the  commencement  of  this  reign,  at  the  beginning 
of  our  era,  Rome  was  the  nation  of  political  unrest 
at  home,  and  conquest  abroad;  having  passed  her 
golden  age  as  a  nation,  the  ferment  of  dissolution  was 
expanding  the  proportions  of  the  body  politic  to  cover 
the  surrounding  countries,  like  the  obesity  of  age 
weighing  down  the  strength  of  prime,  to  be  followed, 
as  in  the  natural  body,  by  that  degeneration,  or  descend- 
ing metamorphosis,  preceding  dissolution. 

In  the  Trojan  war,  some  of  the  Olympian  deities 
favored  and  aided  Greece,  others  Troy;  and,  even 
Jove  and  his  consort  were  on  different  sides  of  the 
controversy;  and,  not  only  this,  but  the  gods  waged, 
among  themselves,  a  battle  over  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

From  that  time  on,  the  gods  of  nations  fought  with 
and  for  them,  if  kept  appeased  by  proper  reverence 
and  sufficient  sacrifices,  until  the  Persian  invasions 
of  Europe,  the  Macedonian  campaigns,  and  the  con- 
quests of  Rome,  all  prosecuted  for  retaliation  or  con- 
quest, or  both,  when  human  valor  became  so  exalted 
as  to  leave  no  place  for  the  gods.  Military  chaos  and 
the  disorganization  of  society  in  general  followed  the 
decay  of  these  great  powers.  In  this  general  decline, 
commerce,  then  called  trade,  most  closely  connected 
with  government,  suffered  the  same  fate;  manufac- 


RELIGIOUS.  Ill 


tures  and  industries,  next  to  be  affected,  naturally 
followed  the  destruction  of  the  markets  of  the  world; 
then  art;  then  literature. 

In  this  general  wreck,  religion  was  regaining  the 
place  it  had  lost  in  men's  minds,  which,  rising,  in  an 
inverse  ratio  to  the  fall  of  political  power,  had,  by  the 
fifth  century,  reestablished  dominion  in  political  af- 
fairs, this  time,  that  men  should  fight  the  battles  of 
their  gods,  instead  of,  as  in  the  beginning,  the  gods 
fighting  for  the  cause  of  men.  The  idea  of  deity  is  on 
the  decline;  and  the  gods,  once  all-powerful  and  per- 
sonal in  battle,  are  now  impotent  and  emblematic. 

Religion,  of  which  the  exponent  was  the  church, 
now  dominated  in  the  government  of  Europe  until 
about  the  sixteenth  century,  although  the  first  awaken- 
ing may  be  traced  from  the  thirteenth ;  but  its  power, 
though  often  resisted,  was  not  overcome,  until  near 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  at  the  time  of  the 
great  French  Revolution,  since  which  time  the  church 
has  possessed  a  passive  influence,  but  no  potent  power. 

This  awakening  is  what  the  French  have  been  pleased 
to  call  the  Renaissance,  the  revival,  in  Europe,  of  the 
ancient,  or  heathen,  literature  and  art,  giving  to  poli- 
tics, in  this  resurrection,  the  same  body  of  principles 
and  laws,  even,  which  had  perished  writh  it,  and  re- 
ligion and  government  again  reverse  positions. 

This  last  readjustment  is  what  we  are  pleased  to 
refer  to,  when  we  talk  of  the  separation  of  church  and 
state. 

The  general  review,  here  given,  is  necessary  to  a 
full  understanding  of  the  relations  of  government  and 
religion  in  our  time.  Antagonism  is  that  relation,  in 
this,  that  religion  is  ever  seeking  the  overthrow  of 


112  MEXICO. 

government  to  substitute  itself  in  its  stead,  while 
government  is  put  to  the  defensive  for  self-preser- 
vation, without,  at  first,  desiring  or  seeking  to  dethrone 
religion,  but  now  carrying  the  conflict  home  to  the  very 
root  of  that  institution. 

The  dominion  of  the  church  in  civil  government  has 
always  produced  the  same  results;  and,  as  an  illus- 
tration, I  give  the  following,  concealing  both  the  au- 
thor and  the  church,  as  the  application  is  universal. 
This  will  keep  the  mind  from  indulging  any  national 
prejudice  for  the  author,  or  partiality  in  his  favor,  by 
reason  of  his  personality;  and,  also,  prevent  religious 
sentiment  or  rancor  by  the  devotees  of  any  particular 
religion : 

Society,  after  having  made  some  few  strides  away 
from  physical  chaos,  seemed  in  danger  of  falling  into 
moral  chaos ;  morals  had  sunk  far  below  the  laws,  and 
religion  was  in  deplorable  contrast  to  morals.  It  was 
not  laymen  only  who  abandoned  themselves  with  im- 
punity to  every  excess  of  violence  and  licentiousness; 
scandals  were  frequent  among  the  clergy  themselves; 
bishoprics  and  other  ecclesiastical  benefices,  publicly 
sold  or  left  by  will,  passed  down  through  families  from 
father  to  son,  and  from  husband  to  wife,  and  the 
possessions  of  the  church  served  for  dowry  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  bishops.  Absolution  was  at  a  low  quotation 
in  the  market,  and  redemption  for  sins  of  the  greatest 
enormity  cost  scarcely  the  price  of  founding  a  church 
or  a  monastery.  Horror-stricken  at  the  sight  of  such 
corruption  in  the  only  things  they,  at  that  time,  recog- 
nized as  holy,  men  no  longer  knew  where  to  find  the 
rule  of  life  or  the  safeguard  of  conscience. 

Men  forsake  religion,  but  they  can  never  entirely 
depart  from  their  mythology,  which  shows  that  myths 
are  older  than  gods. 


RELIGIOUS.  113 


The  coins  of  Mexico  are  stamped  with  the  mytho- 
logical representation  of  the  cactus,  the  eagle  and  the 
snake,  while  those  of  the  United  States  are  impressed 
with  the  emblem  of  traditional  Liberty,  older  than  the 
gods  themselves. 

In  like  manner,  the  planets  first  discovered  and 
named  took  the  appellations  of  their  appropriate  gods ; 
and  those  discovered,  after  the  deposition  of  the 
Olympian  deities,  were  forced,  against  a  contrary 
impulse,  into  that  nomenclature.  So  great  is  the  force 
of  this  principle,  that,  should  a  new  planet  be  dis- 
covered, at  any  time  in  the  future,  its  name  must  come 
within  the  "synod  of  the  gods." 

This  should  teach  us  to  look  only  for  a  prevalence, 
and  never  for  a  supremacy,  in  human  affairs;  that  no 
system  of  government,  religion  or  society  will  ever 
dominate  the  world;  but  that  each  must  be  confined 
to  its  own  proper  sphere;  and  that  the  universal 
brotherhood  of  man  is  but  a  poetic  fancy. 

The  Mexicans  changed  their  religion  as  quickly  and 
completely  as  they  had  been  conquered,  which  seems 
to  be  the  fate  of  all  primitive  people  to  take  the  re- 
ligion of  their  conquerors.  Medieval  Europe  furnishes 
many  instances  where  a  treaty  of  peace  carried  a  pro- 
vision that  the  conquered  should  forsake  their  heathen 
gods,  and  worship  the  Omnipotent,  of  whose  power 
they  had  gotten  a  foretaste  at  the  hands  of  His  follow- 
ers; and,  where  whole  tribes  captured,  and  driven 
en  masse  to  the  bank  of  a  river,  were  baptized  at  the 
point  of  the  pike ;  and,  in  almost  all  instances,  whether 
from  pure  volition,  by  treaty,  under  pressure,  or  at 
the  pike's  point  or  cannon's  mouth,  have  remained 
permanent  converts  to  the  new  faith. 


114  MEXICO. 

The  hands  of  victory  are  here  thrown  up  for  the 
triumph  of  the  Christian  faith;  but  by  the  ignorant 
and  shortsighted,  who  know  nothing  of  history  and 
less  of  philosophy,  for  they  imagine  they  know  prin- 
ciples, when  they  admit  they  do  not  know  facts. 

Mahomet  and  his  cause  made  yet  even  more  prose- 
lytes by  the  sword  than  the  Christians  by  the  pike. 
The  Cross  and  the  Crescent  have  been  most  victorious 
in  the  wake  of  the  pike  and  the  sword. 

The  Olympian  deities  followed  the  conquest  of  the 
Greeks  into  Asia  Minor. 

I  have  wondered  at  these  conquests  of  religion,  and 
I  still  wonder ;  I  do  not  understand  them ;  and  I  have 
elsewhere  confessed  my  ignorance  even  of  what  re- 
ligion is;  but,  for  reasons  stated,  my  readers  will 
doubtless  soon  inform  me. 

In  Mexico,  the  separation  of  church  and  state  is 
complete  in  form  and  in  fact,  the  church  not  exercising 
a  single  function  in  the  governmental  order  of  things. 

In  the  United  States,  we  pretend  to  have  a  separa- 
tion of  church  and  state,  but  the  church  still  celebrates 
marriage,  thus  making  a  contract  binding  upon  the 
state ;  and,  in  some  of  the  States  of  our  Union,  where 
the  legal  practice  is  regulated  by  an  enactment  code 
even,  the  courts,  in  certain  cases,  have  recognized  the 
operation  of  the  forms  of  ecclesiastical  procedure. 

The  influence  of  the  church,  or,  more  largely,  re- 
ligion, among  us  is  greatest  when  openly  advocated  or 
denounced.  We  allow  every  man  his  own  religious 
ideas,  until  he  speaks  them  or  condemns  others,  when 
we  are  instantly,  from  feeling  or  policy,  opposed  to 
him.  If  he  has  praised  our  religion,  we  condemn  his 
indiscretion;  but,  if  he  has  condemned  it,  we  are  at 


RELIGIOUS.  115 


once  his  enemy ;  and,  if  we  have  no  religion  of  our  own, 
we  regard  him  as  foolish.  Religion  is,  therefore,  seen 
to  exist  in  our  politics  in  a  negative  form;  but  soon,  as 
I  am  glad  to  say,  and  as  every  indication  points,  to  be 
cast  out  of  the  equation. 

Another  separation,  not  generally  thought  of,  but 
of  still  greater  moment,  from  both  church  and  state, 
remains  to  be  effected.  Intellect  should  be  untram- 
meled  by  the  tradition  of  religion  and  the  authority  of 
government.  Literature,  the  highest  exemplification 
of  intellect,  should  plead  only  at  the  bar  of  reason. 
Conscience,  indeed,  is  free,  but  must  not  trangress 
the  traditions  of  society,  religion,  and  the  law.  Men 
are  free  to  speak  and  write,  but  not  to  say  and  inscribe. 

The  time  for  compromises  should  have  been  long 
since  past,  and  intellect,  so  far  from  seeking  excuses 
and  making  apologies,  should  be  recognizing  only  its 
own  individuality. 

Some  years  ago,  in  1856,  as  I  was  told,  and  as  I,  also, 
read,  the  Mexican  government  confiscated  all  church 
property,  all  Catholic  church  property,  that  then  being 
the  only  church  in  the  country.  The  lands,  I  was 
told,  were  sold,  but  the  buildings  themselves  are  still 
held  by  the  government,  with  the  right  of  user  remain- 
ing to  the  church,  which,  if  it  preserve,  must  maintain 
them,  and  keep  them  in  repair,  with  the  exception, 
however,  of  the  cathedral  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  which 
is  kept  in  repair  by  the  government,  for  what  reasons  is 
not  hard  to  guess,  as  it  is  one  of  the  chief  attractions 
of  the  city ;  and  thus  advertisement,  by  whatever  dip- 
lomatic name  you  wish  to  call  it,  is  still  the  leading 
policy  of  governments  as  well  as  of  men. 


116  MEXICO. 

This  confiscation  naturally  stopped  all  church  ex- 
tension, as  no  ground  can  be  acquired  on  which  to 
build  them,  and  no  new  churches  are  to  be  seen  any- 
where. The  walls  of  the  old  churches,  however,  often 
present  the  appearance  of  newness,  because,  on  ac- 
count of  the  poorness  of  the  material,  both  stone  and 
mortar  or  cement  used  in  their  construction,  they  must 
be  kept  plastered  both  inside  and  outside ;  and  a  coat 
of  fresh  plaster  gives  them  the  shining  aspect  of  an 
old  form  in  a  new  dress;  but,  even  this  does  not  long 
preserve  the  walls,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  number  of 
church  ruins  seen  in  the  country ;  and  soon,  reckoning 
by  years,  only  ruins  of  churches  will  exist ;  because  the 
people  are  continuously  giving  less  of  their  money  to 
the  church,  and  the  church  has  no  other  source  of  in- 
come. What  goes  to  ruin  by  time  is  seldom  rebuilt 
or  replaced,  but,  otherwise,  when  destroyed  by  fire, 
accident  or  casualty. 

The  belfries,  domes,  facades,  and  other  portions  of 
the  church  buildings,  where  a  greater  strength  is  re- 
quired than  afforded  by  rubble,  are  constructed  from 
cut  stone,  but  of  such  poor  quality  as  soon  crumbles 
and  breaks,  when  exposed  to  the  weather,  so  that  the 
more  permanent  portions  of  the  buildings  present  the 
more  ruinous  aspect. 

The  policy  of  church  building  has  always  been  to 
get  started,  by  any  humble  beginning,  and  then  de- 
pend upon  time  and  importunity  on  the  one  hand  and 
wealth  and  vanity  on  the  other,  to  complete  the  work. 

In  Mexico,  "forty  years  in  building"  has  lost  all  its 
grandeur  of  conception,  as  I  have  seen  churches  begun 
over  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  not  yet,  by  any  means, 
completed,  although  still  in  progress.  These  new 


RELIGIOUS.  117 


structures,  on  the  top  of  walls  whose  supports  seem 
to  be  in  the  last  stage  of  decay,  remind  me  so  much  of 
hope,  which  is  ever  building  brightly  over  ruined  and 
sinking  foundations. 

A  few,  a  very  few,  Protestant  congregations  exist  in 
Mexico,  but  I  could  learn  of  no  churches,  nor,  strictly 
speaking,  no  church  organization  by  them,  existing  only 
in  isolation;  and,  as  no  benefits,  perquisites,  emolu- 
ments or  money,  can  ever  be  expected  to  accrue  from 
a  propaganda,  we  have  the  happy  assurance  that  here 
is  one  place  where  the  missionary  will  never  beg  our 
aid  in  proselyting,  and,  later,  crave  our  protection  from 
the  just  resentment  of  an  outraged  people. 

Yes,  other  gods  are  worshiped  in  Mexico,  as  the 
Chinese  and  the  unspeakable  Japanese  are  still  al- 
lowed the  freedom  of  the  country,  and  the  natives 
have  not,  in  every  instance,  forsaken  their  ancient 
faith;  but  these  and  the  metaphysical  nothings  now 
everywhere  present,  like  rays  of  light  in  the  scale-pan, 
add  an  appearance,  but  no  weight. 

The  future  of  the  church  in  Mexico  can  be  easily 
predicted :  In  the  confiscation  of  all  church  property 
by  the  state,  it  received  its  deathblow;  but,  like  those 
cold-blooded  animals,  though  physiologically  dead, 
after  the  severance  of  their  spinal  cord  at  the  base  of 
the  brain,  still,  for  a  long  time,  retain  their  physical 
activity,  the  portion  farthest  from  the  head  being  the 
last  to  die.  Although  the  head  and  the  body  of  the 
church  in  Mexico  are  still  in  touch,  the  physiological 
continuity  has  been  severed,  and  its  present  activity  is,  in 
reality,  post  mortem ;  and,  in  the  mountains,  far  from  the 
disturbances  of  the  times,  its  last  movements  will  cease. 


118  MEXICO. 

Among  the  poor  of  the  country,  you  will  find  those 
still  faithful;  but  the  government,  having  repudiated 
the  church,  every  politician  curses  it,  if  not  publicly, 
at  least  hi  private. 

Nothing  will  destroy  a  church  quicker  than  to  re- 
move it  from  active  participation,  or  tacit  influence,  in 
government  and  politics. 

With  us,  we  deny  the  church  a  part  in  government, 
but  we  admit  it  in  politics.  "In  God  we  trust,"  but 
we  will  not  let  Him  govern  us.  We  expect  our  public 
officers  to  be  Christian,  but  we  will  not  permit  them  to 
practice  their  religion  upon  us.  We  are  willing  that 
every  man  should  have  his  own  views,  so  long  as  he 
does  not  touch  us  or  the  faith  to  which  some  ancient 
maternal  ancestor  clung.  We  allow  all  men  to  pray, 
but  we  would  restrain  the  granting. 

How  long  we  can  maintain  this  foolishness,  we  can- 
not say ;  but  we  know  the  course,  although  we  cannot 
determine  its  length.  Opinions,  like  the  physical  life 
of  the  world,  are  of  slow  growth,  but  end  by  cataclysms. 
Fossils  of  extinct  races  of  fishes  are  found  embedded 
hi  rock,  all  headed  in  the  same  direction ;  the  mammoth 
swarmed  in  Europe  almost  until  historic  times;  and 
the  poor  wild  dove,  the  pigeon,  now  extinct,  only  thirty 
years  ago,  darkened  our  skies.  I  make  this  statement, 
after  having  recently  made  a  trip  through  what  was 
their  great  breeding-ground  of  northern  United  States 
and  Canada,  and  after  most  diligent  inquiry. 

Guadalupe,  the  holy  city,  the  Mecca,  the  Jerusalem, 
of  Mexico,  is  a  village  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  Totoltepec, 
at  the  edge  of  the  plain,  about  three  miles  from  the  City 
of  Mexico,  and  is  reached  by  an  electric  line.  As  is 


RELIGIOUS.  119 


usual  in  all  Mexican  towns,  the  only  building  of  any 
consequence  is  the  church.  The  history  of  this  shrine, 
like  all  systems  of  deception  for  the  benefit  of  their 
promotors,  is  definite  and  certain :  On  the  night  of 
July  1,  1520,  Juan  Rodriguez  de  Villafuerte,  a  Spanish 
soldier,  with  others,  fleeing  from  defeat  at  the  hands  of 
Cuautemoc,  took  refuge  in  the  temple  of  Otoncapulco 
on  the  hill  of  Totoltepec.  This  soldier  had  with  him 
an  image  of  the  Virgin,  of  checkered  career,  brought 
from  Spain,  and  which  had,  in  futuro,  a  greater  career 
in  Mexico.  Reaching  this  hill,  being  wounded,  he 
could  carry  the  image  no  farther,  and  hid  it  under  a 
maguey  plant,  where  it  remained  for  nearly  twenty 
years;  but  was  finally  discovered  by  Cequauhtzin,  a 
native  chief,  called  by  the  Spaniards  Juan  de  Aguila 
Tobar,  who  had  been  admonished  in  a  vision  by  the 
Virgin  to  seek  for  her  image  beneath  a  maguey  on  this 
hill.  Three  times  did  the  vision  appear;  three  times 
was  the  admonition  given;  three  times  the  search 
made;  and  three  times  was  the  charm,  the  image 
found,  and  joyously  carried  home  by  Cequauhtzin; 
but  to  his  great  surprise,  the  next  morning,  had  dis- 
appeared, and  was  again  found  at  its  original  place  of 
concealment.  This  good  man  took  the  image  to  his 
home  again,  placing  before  it  a  gourd  containing  eat- 
ables of  the  most  dainty  sort,  hoping  thus  to  domesti- 
cate it  to  his  house ;  but  the  image  again  betook  itself 
the  following  night  to  the  maguey ;  and  again  did  this 
good  and  patient  man  go  after  it,  and  carry  it  to  his 
house,  this  time  placing  it  in  a  strong  box  which  he 
both  locked  and  bolted,  and  himself  the  next  night 
sleeping  upon  the  box;  but  to  no  avail,  as  the  image 
was  found  the  following  morning  again  under  the  ma- 


120  MEXICO. 

guey,  although  the  box  had  not  been  opened.  Being 
now  satisfied  that  he  could  not  domesticate  this  image 
as  a  household  god,  Cequauhtzin  sought  the  assistance 
of  a  priest,  San  Gabriel,  whose  advice,  on  account  of 
its  practicability,  is  very  commendable,  and  worthy 
of  imitation:  that,  as  the  image  could  not  be  kept 
away  from  its  favorite  abode  under  the  maguey,  a 
temple  or  church  should  be  constructed  over  it,  which 
was  commenced  at  once,  completed  shortly,  and  ded- 
icated to  Our  Lady  of  Succor.  In  1574-5,  the  present 
church  was  erected  over  the  walls  of  this  original 
chapel,  although  not  fully  completed  for  more  than  one 
hundred  years  afterward.  In  these  churches  this 
image  has  found  a  constant  and  permanent  home,  or, 
to  speak  more  correctly,  around  the  constant  and  per- 
manent home  of  this  image  were  built  these  churches. 
The  image  is  about  eight  inches  long,  of  carved  wood, 
and  holding  in  its  tiny  and  tender  embrace  the  Infant 
Jesus.  The  image  is  now  decaying,  disfigured  and 
naked,  only  a  few  pearls  remaining  from  the  rich 
drapery  which  once  shrouded  and  adorned  it.  Since 
"the  gods  themselves  grow  old,"  they  cannot  protect 
their  images  from  the  ravages  of  Time.  The  tradi- 
tional gourd,  now  broken  and  mended,  is  preserved  in  a 
silken  case;  and  the  gold  and  silver  ornaments  of  the 
altar  have  been  replaced  with  baser  metals.  On  a 
slab,  in  front  of  the  altar,  is  this  inscription  in  Spanish : 


This  is  the  true  spot  where  was  found  the 
most  Holy  Virgin,  beneath  a  maguey,  by 
the  Chief,  Don  Juan  Aguila,  in  the  year 
1540  (being  the  spot)  where  she  said  to 
him,  in  the  time  of  her  appearance  to  him, 
that  he  should  search  for  her. 


RELIGIOUS.  121 


What  could  be  more  appropriate  than  to  here  find 
the  tomb  of  the  good  Juan  with  the  chest  in  which  he 
tried  to  confine  the  image  resting  upon  it! 

This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  legends  I  have  ever 
heard ;  but  here  is  its  sister,  or,  perhaps,  I  should  say 
its  daughter,  as  it  succeeds  the  first  in  time: 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  December  9,  1531,  a 
pious  native,  although  bearing  the  Spanish  name, 
Juan  Diego,  living  in  the  village  of  Tolpetlac,  on  his 
way  to  the  church  of  Santiago  Tlaltelolco,  passing 
round  the  hillside  of  Tepeyacac,  heard  the  music  of 
voices  singing,  which  filled  him  with  fear;  but,  taking 
courage,  he  looked  up,  saw  a  lady  near,  who  com- 
manded him  to  listen,  and  he  was  told  by  her  to  go  to 
the  bishop,  and  tell  him  that  she  desired  a  temple 
in  her  honor  built  on  that  hill.  This  message  was 
quickly  and  faithfully  borne  to  the  bishop,  Don  Juan 
Zumarraga,  who  gave  but  an  incredulous  ear,  and 
turned  the  messenger  sorrowfully  away.  Three  times 
was  this  repeated,  until  the  incredulous  bishop  began 
to  doubt,  commanding  the  messenger  to  bring  some 
unmistakable  token  of  the  truth  of  what  he  said. 
This  faithful  messenger,  true  to  his  mission,  again 
sought  the  hill,  followed  by  two  spies  of  the  bishop ; 
but,  as  he  approached  the  hill,  became  invisible  to  the 
spies,  who  were  able  to  report  nothing ;  but,  on  again 
meeting  with  the  lady,  Juan  Diego  was  told  by  her  to 
return  next  day.  Not  being  able,  on  account  of  domes- 
tic misfortunes,  to  keep  his  engagement  next  day  with 
the  lady ;  and,  being  urged  by  great  necessity  to  make  a 
trip  from  his  house  to  the  church,  he  went  another 
way,  so  he  would  not  be  detained  by  falling  in  with 
her;  but  she  still  met  him,  and  told  him  that  his  uncle, 


122  MEXICO. 

whose  sickness  and  impending  death  were  the  cause 
of  his  retention  at  home  and  his  hurried  trip  to  bring 
him  a  confessor,  was  now  well.  Having  thus  com- 
posed him,  she  told  him  to  gather  flowers  from  the 
rocks  on  top  of  the  hill,  which  had  theretofore  been 
entirely  barren,  and  take  them  to  the  bishop,  as  the 
token  he  had  desired,  and  to  keep  them  carefully  con- 
cealed until  the  bishop  had  seen  them.  He  folded 
the  flowers  in  his  tilma,  a  small  shawl  or  wrap,  and  set 
out  for  the  bishop's ;  and  instantly,  at  the  place  where 
the  lady  stood,  a  spring  of  water  gushed  forth.  Of 
this  I  myself  drank,  but  was  greatly  shocked,  in  view 
of  the  tradition,  when  I  discerned  the  taste  of  sulphur. 
Arriving  at  the  bishop's  house,  he  emptied  out  the 
flowers  at  the  bishop's  feet,  when,  lo!  they  had  im- 
pressed on  the  tilma  an  image  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  the 
figure  being  that  of  a  beautiful  woman  in  mantled 
cloak,  hands  approximated,  and  standing  on  a  cres- 
cent supported  by  a  cherub.  Of  those  of  philosophic 
turn  I  will  ask,  why  the  resemblance  of  this  picture 
to  one,  if  not,  indeed,  a  copy,  painted  on  the  Nile  3000 
or  4000  years  ago?  And  of  the  worldly  I  will  ask,  if, 
in  these  two  legends,  they  do  not  discern  the  policy  of 
the  priest  instead  of  the  hand  of  the  divinity? 

Details  may  be  passed  over;  the  church  was  built; 
the  image  of  the  Virgin  on  this  tilma  placed  therein; 
and  it  has  now  become  the  great  shrine  of  Mexico. 

So  much  for  this  legend,  as  such,  and  I  think  it 
quite  as  beautiful  as  the  other;  but  we  are  not  yet 
done  with  it. 

It  has  a  long  list  of  indorsements  from  the  court  of 
Rome  on  down  to  Pope  Leo  XIII,  who  wrote  poetry 
in  Latin  about  it,  and  his  kneeling  image  in  stone  is 


RELIGIOUS.  123 


worshipfully  set  before  it.  Having  the  highest  sanc- 
tion which  church  authority  can  confer,  it  is  the  grand 
objective  point  of  pilgrimages  in  Mexico,  and  thousands 
resort  thither.  Eighteen  thousand,  by  careful  esti- 
mate, I  saw  there  at  one  time,  sleeping  on  impro- 
vised cots  or  in  blankets  on  the  ground,  and  living  in 
the  open  air. 

So  popular  is  this  image  of  the  Virgin  that  I  have 
seen  it  almost  everywhere,  occupying  not  only  the 
places  where  she  can  claim  a  peculiar  fitness,  but  the 
places  where  we  use  Our  Goddess  of  Liberty  as  well. 
In  the  mountains,  more  than  one  hundred  miles  from 
communication  with  the  outside  world,  I  found  my 
room  adorned  with  it.  On  a  little  stand,  that  occu- 
pied the  corner,  was  an  ordinary  drinking-glass  filled 
with  oil;  across  the  top  of  this  was  a  little  plate  of 
common  tin,  with  a  small  hole  punched  in  the  center 
to  support  a  taper  reaching  down  into  the  oil,  which 
was  kept  lighted  and  burning  with  a  flame  about  as 
large  as  a  common  pea,  very  faintly  illuminated  a 
picture  of  the  Virgin  of  Guadalupe  set  close  behind  it. 

This  shrine  is  not  absent  even  in  the  haunts  of  vice 
and  crime,  and  at  one  end  of  what  is  familiarly  known 
among  us  as  the  dance-hall,  a  picture  of  the  Guada- 
lupe Virgin  with  a  burning  taper  before  it  does  duty. 

I  have  read  in  one  of  my  works  on  anthropology,  by 
Tylor,  I  think,  that  the  Gypsies  of  Spain,  when  they 
go  thieving,  wear,  suspended  around  their  necks,  as 
an  amulet,  a  translation,  into  their  language,  of  one 
of  the  four  gospels,  made  by  some  devoted  priest. 

The  amulets  and  charms  of  religion  have  ever  been 
the  mascots  of  crime  also. 

The  church  at  Guadalupe  is  built  at  the  foot  of  the 


124  MEXICO. 

hill  of  Totoltepec,  which  rises  abruptly  behind  it,  and 
which  one  ascends  by  a  series  of  stone  steps  to  an 
eminence  where  another  small  chapel  is  located,  and 
where  one  overlooking  the  church  itself,  gets  a  beauti- 
ful view  of  the  valley,  the  city,  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains and  the  lakes.  The  stench,  as  one  proceeds  up 
this  hill,  becomes  more  terrible,  and,  on  investigation, 
I  discover  that  this  sacred  mountain  is  at  last  put  to 
its  proper  use. 

The  spring  or  flowing  well  is  at  another  point  of  the 
hill,  not  far  from  the  church.  You  can  dip  your  own 
bucket  and  drink.  The  faithful  consider  it  sacred, 
because  they  take  off  their  hats  and  cross  themselves 
when  approaching  it;  and  here  I  purchased  a  photo- 
graph of  the  shrine. 

The  government  instituted  an  inquiry  into  the  truth 
of  the  history  of  the  shrine,  and  its  fraud  was  exposed ; 
but  in  Mexico,  as  in  all  the  world,  no  law  exists  against 
ignorance;  but  imposition,  taking  advantage  of  cre- 
dulity, is  a  crime  the  world  over. 
'  The  whole  thing  was  a  stupendous  scheme  to  con- 
vert the  natives,  and  it  succeeded ;  but  soon  these  poor 
people  will  know  better,  and  will  act  differently.  The 
process  has  been  slow,  because  .error  clings  to  us  more 
tenaciously  than  truth. 

Even  glaring  falsehood  is  used  to  give  importance 
to  the  place.  I  have  read  in  the  books,  and  my  guide 
also  told  me,  that  the  silver  in  the  railing  around  the 
shrine  weighs  twenty-seven  tons.  I  tapped  on  it  with 
my  pocketknife,  as  I  passed  along,  and  it  resounded 
like  an  empty  tin  can.  My  guide  is  a  liar,  the  official 
liar  of  the  shrine,  and  is  most  expert  in  his  calling;  he 
is  a  cheat  also,  because  I  employed  him,  agreeing  that 


RELIGIOUS.  125 


he  should  give  me  thirty  minutes  of  his  time  for  one 
dollar;  we  walk  up  one  side  of  the  church  and  down 
the  other,  the  guide  sputtering  about  this  and  that  in 
a  language  that  sounded  like  a  whizzing  mixture  of 
Spanish,  French  and  English,  and  knowing  a  little  of 
all  of  these  languages,  I  was  able  to  understand  what 
he  was  trying  to  say.  He  had  not  yet  spent  ten  min- 
utes of  his  time  with  me,  when  he  brought  me  to  a  halt 
facing  the  sacred  image  on  the  tilma;  and,  between 
genuflections  and  crossings,  demanded  his  dollar,  which 
he  had  not  yet  earned.  I  remonstrated  that  we  had 
not  yet  been  at  it  ten  minutes;  but,  finding  him  ob- 
durate, I  handed  over  the  dollar  with  my  testimo- 
nial that  he  was  a  liar,  a  fraud  and  a  cheat,  and  that 
I  thought  I  could  get  on  better  without  than  with  him 
anyway. 

So  much,  then,  for  the  shrine  of  Mexico. 

One  lacks  no  opportunity  to  go  to  church,  or  to  mass, 
as  would  be  said  in  Mexico.  Every  morning  at  three 
o'clock,  the  church-bells  ring  a  fury,  more  exciting  than 
the  oldtime  fire  alarm,  awakening  everybody  in  town, 
except,  I  presume,  those  accustomed  to  it.  Those 
who  take  the  alarm  seriously,  I  imagine,  should  jump 
out  of  bed,  and  run  half-dressed,  with  their  heart  in 
their  throat  and  prayers  on  their  lips,  to  save  their 
souls  from  the  consuming  fires  of  the  approaching  day ; 
but  I,  unaccustomed  to  being  awakened  by  a  fire-alarm 
at  three  o'clock  every  morning,  and  being  also  unable 
to  comprehend  how  combustion  can  occur  without 
carbon  or  oxygen, — I  am  afraid  I  frequently  turned 
over  in  my  bed  muttering  to  myself  unsanctimoniously. 

At  every  hour  of  every  day,  from  three  o'clock  A.  M., 


126  MEXICO. 

the  church-bells  call  us  heavenward,  to  speak  poet- 
ically; but,  in  reality,  they  strike  a  hurried,  exciting 
and  troublesome  warning  or  alarm,  except,  however, 
for  a  short  time  following  noon,  when  the  priest  enjoys 
his  siesta;  but  I  should  say,  when  the  priests  enjoy 
their  siesta,  because  these  churches  are  always  supplied 
with  a  number  of  priests,  who,  by  working  shifts  or 
turns,  can  make  their  profession  very  easy,  without 
allowing  the  people  any  rest. 

I  never  determined  how  late  at  night  these  hourly 
alarms  were  rung  off,  because,  being  naturally  of  a 
sleepy  disposition,  to  which  was  usually  added  exhaus- 
tion toward  the  close  of  the  day,  I  retired  early,  as  I 
always  have,  even  when  a  boy,  and,  during  the  early 
part  of  the  night,  slept  so  soundly  that  nothing  short  of 
an  earthquake  would  have  wakened  me. 

I  attended  some  of  these  masses  at  various  places 
in  the  country;  and  I  will  describe  one  at  Zacatecas. 

The  church,  a  very  large  one,  a  cathedral,  was  located 
in  the  heart  of  the  city;  and  I  will  briefly  describe  it, 
in  order  to  lead  up  to  the  impressions  of  the  worship ; 
but,  as  none  of  us  is  up  very  high  on  church  archi- 
tecture, I  will  avoid  any  attempt  at  technical  terms. 

All  the  external,  except  the  front,  may  be  passed 
over  as  unimportant :  a  stone  wall,  almost  windowless, 
plastered  without  and  within,  massive,  and,  in  the 
rear,  as  is  usual  in  Mexico,  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  con- 
tinuous with  other  buildings,  a  hotel  on  one  side ;  and, 
if  I  remember  correctly,  a  market-place  on  the  other, 
but  frequently  a  feed-lot  or  corral  in  which  people 
coming  to  church  on  burros  can  turn  them,  while  they 
go  to  worship. 

The  front  of  this  church  needs  special  mention,  as  a 


RELIGIOUS.  127 


work  of  art  and  impressive  architecture.  A  square 
and  massive  tower  of  cut  stone  composes  each  corner, 
with  a  square  belfry  of  carved  and  fluted  stone  on  top ; 
and  the  space  between  these  towers  is  composed  of 
carved  columns  and  statuary,  from  the  ground  to  the 
top,  forming  an  immense  facade. 

Passing  now  to  the  inside,  what  I  say  may  be  taken, 
with  some  modification,  as  a  description  of  almost  every 
church  in  Mexico :  A  long  hall-like  chamber,  in  height 
from  the  ground  to  the  roof,  sometimes  quite  a  hundred 
feet;  numerous  and  large  supporting  columns  on 
either  side,  so  that  one  does  not  ordinarily  notice  the 
side-chambers  until  he  has  advanced  a  little  distance 
from  the  door  f'  at  the  farther  end  is  the  altar;  a  great 
dome  occupies  the  center  of  the  ceiling  like  an  exit 
upwards;  a  few  benches  placed  along  at  the  foot  of 
the  columns ;  but,  sometimes,  filling  part  of  the  space 
between  the  columns  in  front  of  the  altar. 

The  walls  are  well  covered  with  pictures  and  paint- 
ings of  allegorical  representations,  as  well  as  fresco 
work  and  statuary. 

I  sit  through  the  services,  which  take  nearly  an  hour ; 
the  prayers,  the  singing,  the  responsive  readings,  the 
chants,  and  all,  to  the  extinguishing  of  the  candles,  the 
details  of  which  I  need  not  describe  on  account  of  their 
familiarity.  Nine  priests  and  six  attendants  officiated. 
The  choir  was  out  of  sight,  but  I  judge  about  five  or 
six  voices  were  heard.  Myself  and  three  native  Mex- 
icans, one  of  whom  came  very  late,  constituted  the 
audience.  I  dropped  my  offering  in  the  box  and  a 
penny  to  each  of  the  numerous  beggars  always  present 
at  church-doors  in  Mexico,  asking  alms  of  those  who 
go  in  and  come  out,  seeking  earthly  goods  of  man 


128  MEXICO. 

under  the  altar  of  Omnipotence.  In  explanation  of 
this  phase  of  human  existence,  I  will  refer  merely  to 
the  fable  of  the  man  who  put  up  his  god  at  auction, 
crying  out  about  his  good  qualities  and  the  liberality 
of  his  gifts,  whereupon  a  bystander  asked  why  he  then 
desired  to  sell  him,  to  which  the  reply  was,  that  he  was 
wont  to  give  his  good  gifts  slowly. 

I  have  just  witnessed  the  oldest  and  the  greatest 
fact  in  human  history,  the  worship  of  a  deity,  which 
I  can  understand  and  appreciate.  Worship  expresses 
the  greatest  sentiment  of  the  soul,  and  stands  not  only 
for  the  inward  feeling,  but  the  outward  show  as  well. 
Worship  I  inwardly  feel,  and  outwardly  know;  but 
what  is  religion? 

Not  knowing,  in  reality,  what  religion  is,  notwith- 
standing all  I  have  said,  I  cannot,  therefore,  tell 
whether  or  not  I  am  of  a  religious  turn  of  mind,  al- 
though I  have  examined  many  dictionaries,  and  noted, 
in  passing,  the  waitings  of  jurists,  theologians  and 
philosophers,  but  without  being  able  to  pound  it  into 
my  thick  head. 

The  effect,  the  result,  of  religious  operation,  I  think 
I  know  something  about,  on  the  same  principle  that 
enables  me  to  comprehend  electric  action  in  its  effects 
or  results;  and,  I  think,  I  understand  a  few  of  its 
modes  of  operation;  but  what  is  electricity? 

I  do  not  want  to  be  understood  as  pressing  the  cor- 
respondence between  religion  and  electricity  beyond 
my  ignorance.  What  electricity  is,  is  a  subject  for 
investigation,  which  the  future  may  develop  and  ex- 
plain in  its  nature,  aside  from  its  effects. 

What  religion  is,  is  doubtless  well  understood  by 
very  many;  and,  all  I  need  to  do,  is  to  wait  to  be  told. 


RELIGIOUS.  129 


I  am  so  anxious,  however,  for  the  information,  that 
if  anyone  will  tell  me  what  religion  is,  I  will  not  only  be 
obliged  to  him;  but,  if  he  will  give  me  a  definition  in 
one  single  and  connected  sentence,  harmonizing  the 
meaning  with  the  practice,  or  stating  the  contrariety, 
I  will  send  him  my  autograph!  If  he  wants  a  copy 
of  this  book,  he  will  have  to  pay  for  it. 

I  peeped  into  this  church  at  other  times,  as  I  went  by, 
and  saw  eight  persons,  as  the  greatest  number  present 
at  any  one  time,  and,  sometimes,  none ;  but  always  a 
number  of  priests.  How  do  these  priests  make  their 
money,  I  wonder?  This  is  a  material  question. 

I  must  not,  however,  be  understood  as  saying  or 
implying  that  these  churches  are  never  full.  I  have 
elsewhere  stated  about  the  great  crowds  attending 
religious  gatherings ;  but  these  have  all  the  significance 
of  excursions  to  the  bishop  who  gets  them  up ;  and  to 
the  railroads,  which  carry  the  people ;  and,  to  the  peo- 
ple themselves,  as  I  myself  observed,  of  an  outing. 

This,  also,  is  the  true  significance  of  the  thing  among 
us,  where  great  excursions  are  gotten  up  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  annual  meetings  of  religious  orders  and  so- 
cieties ;  and  I  saw  happen  in  Mexico  what  I  have  seen 
here,  that  a  great  many  of  those  who  started  on  these 
excursions,  like  the  crusades  of  the  Middle  Ages,  never 
got  there,  but  their  bones  have  not  been  found  whiten- 
ing the  Plains  of  Abraham. 

No  lack  of  clothing,  food  and  shelter  for  the  priest, 
who  not  only  presents  a  well-nourished  physique,  as 
the  doctors  would  say,  but  is  fat,  as  we  find  him  every- 
where, when  his  bodily  build  will  permit  the  taking  on 
ofliflesh.  His  clothing  is  always  ample,  and  he  usually 


130  MEXICO. 

wears  a  tremendously  large  cloak.  His  church,  where 
he  spends  much  of  his  time,  is  large  and  well  furnished, 
and,  sometimes,  is  almost  the  only  thing  to  be  called 
a  house  in  the  town,  and,  not  infrequently,  represent- 
ing a  greater  expenditure  of  money  than  all  the  town 
besides.  A  town  must  be  small  to  have  but  one  church, 
and  towns  of  5000  to  7000  inhabitants  have  three  or 
four.  The  multitude  of  priests  explains  the  multitude 
of  churches. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  all  church  property 
was  confiscated  by  the  state  some  years  ago,  the  priest 
does  not  seem  to  have  grown  either  lean  or  poor. 
Prior  to  this  confiscation,  I  was  told  that  the  church 
owned  great  tracts  of  land,  and  practically  carried 
on  the  business  of  the  country  through  its  banks. 
Now  the  church  owns  nothing,  but  is  allowed  to  use, 
rent  free,  the  church  buildings  for  religious  purposes, 
and  religious  services  of  every  nature,  even  funeral 
services,  must  be  held  in  the  church,  and  cannot  be 
held  in  the  home  of  the  deceased.  All  religious  pro- 
cessions or  parades  are  also  prohibited,  and  a  priest 
is  not  even  allowed  to  wear  any  of  the  regalia  of  his 
office  outside  the  church ;  but,  from  the  number  of  in- 
fractions I  observed,  this  provision  of  the  law  is  a  dead 
letter.  The  intention  of  the  law  evidently  is  to  confine 
within  the  church-walls  all  things  religious. 

By  the  confiscation  of  all  church  property  by  the 
state,  the  priest  has  become  poor  in  wealth,  but  evi- 
dently enjoys  all  he  formerly  did,  except  the  vanity 
of  riches.  I  think  he  doubtless  eats  and  sleeps  as  well 
as  he  formerly  did,  wears  as  good  clothes,  and  enjoys 
more  ease,  than  when  encumbered  with  property. 

I  have  never  been  able  to  understand  how  men  could 


RELIGIOUS.  131 


roll  in  luxury  at  the  expense  of  pain  and  misery ;  how 
the  men  of  the  cloth  could  accept  even  a  pittance  from 
the  poor  and  miserable,  who  needed  it  to  supply  every 
want  of  life,  and  consume  it  in  the  smoke  of  tobacco 
and  the  flow  of  the  bowl ;  how  the  money  which  should 
go  to  shoe  the  feet  of  the  children  against  the  mud 
and  the  cold,  could  be  expended  for  velvets  and  furs; 
how  the  bread  which  should  save  from  the  hunger  of  a 
sleepless  night,  could  supply  luxuries  for  a  house-dog; 
how,  in  short,  that  the  misery  of  one  could  be  made  the 
happiness  and  comfort  of  another :  but  such  is  the  life 
of  the  priest.  Cold,  implacable,  assuming  poverty  in 
the  midst  of  riches,  he  is  as  inexorable  as  Fate ;  greedy 
and  insatiable,  he  would  devour  the  substance  of  the 
land;  austere  and  uncompromising,  he  knows  no  al- 
ternative; vain  and  domineering,  he  submits  to  no 
authority;  egotistic  and  pretending,  he  assumes  to 
represent  God. 

The  occupation  of  the  bishop  is  almost  an  un- 
known thing  to  me,  as  I  saw  but  two,  and  had  little 
opportunity  to  observe  them;  but,  in  addition  to 
learning  that  the  country  is  well  supplied  with  them 
numerically,  I  was  told,  by  a  man  in  a  position  to 
know,  that  the  great  movements  of  the  people,  by 
the  tens  of  thousands  often,  to  shrines  and  holy  places, 
are  managed  by  the  bishop  direct  with  the  railroad 
companies,  the  bishop  having  a  clerk  or  superintend- 
ent of  transportation;  that  the  bishop  gets  up  these 
excursions,  advising  the  railroads  in  advance  of  about 
the  number  of  tickets  he  will  want,  so  that  the  rail- 
roads can  arrange  to  move  the  people  at  the  proper 
time;  and  the  intimation  was  also  put  forward  that 
there  was  something  in  it  for  the  bishop.  Railroads 


132  MEXICO. 

have  been  known  to  pay  commissions  and  even  re- 
bates; and  the  bishop,  while  subserving  an  earthly 
purpose,  keeps  hope  in  heaven  warm  also. 

But  aside  from  any  specific  information,  and  relying 
upon  history  and  general  principles,  we  are  justified 
in  concluding  that  all  such  great  moves  on  the  part 
of  the  church  have  now,  as  in  the  past  ages,  an  imme- 
diate, earthly  advantage  or  profit  as  well  as  the 
maintenance  of  their  faith  and  the  aggrandizement 
of  their  religion.  In  support  of  this,  I  mention  merely 
the  crusades. 

I  do  not  want  anyone  to  conclude,  from  what  I 
have  said  respecting  the  church,  on  account  of  the 
frequent  reference  to  the  Catholic  Church,  by  reason 
of  its  prevalence  in  Mexico,  that  I  am  directing  my 
remarks,  when  I  come  to  the  general  view,  particularly 
to  that  institution,  for  such  is  not  the  case.  In  the 
general  view,  the  church  as  a  corporation,  a  religious 
corporation,  representing  whatsoever  faith,  in  what- 
soever time,  is  the  object  of  my  remarks,  because  I 
find  that  all  religions  have  a  common  purpose,  from 
which  I  am  justified,  I  think,  in  asserting  that  all 
religions  have  a  common  origin;  and,  striking  at  the 
very  root  of  the  matter,  I  declare  that  the  human 
mind  is  the  only  source  I  can  find  from  which  these 
diverging,  but  kindred  streams  flow,  all  eventually 
reaching  the  same  ocean,  where  they  mingle  their 
waters. 

In  like  manner  I  want  to  be  understood,  when  using 
the  word  priest,  to  refer  to  the  order  in  all  religions 
opposed  to  the  laity,  and  not  to  the  ministers  of  any 
particular  faith. 


RELIGIOUS.  133 


In  the  same  broad  sense  is  the  word  priest  used  in 
the  following: 

Of  all  the  evils  which  escaped  from  Pandora's  box, 
the  institution  of  priesthoods  was  the  worst.  Priests 
have  been  the  curse  of  the  world;  and,  if  we  admit 
the  merits  of  many  of  those  of  our  own  time  to  be  as 
preeminent  above  those  of  all  others,  as  the  esprit 
du  corps  of  the  most  self-contented  individual  of  the 
order  may  incite  him  to  consider  them,  great  as  I  am 
willing  to  allow  the  merits  of  many  individuals  to  be, 
I  will  not  allow  that  they  form  exceptions  strong 
enough  to  destroy  the  general  nature  of  the  rule. 
Look  at  China,  the  festival  of  Juggernaut,  the  Cru- 
sades, the  Massacres  of  St.  Bartholomew,  of  the  Mex- 
icans, and  of  the  Peruvians,  the  fires  of  the  Inquisition, 
of  Mary,  Cranmer,  Calvin,  and  of  the  Druids;  look  at 
Ireland,  look  at  Spain;  in  short,  look  everywhere, 
and  you  will  see  the  priests  reeking  with  gore.  They 
have  converted,  and  are  converting,  populous  and 
happy  nations  into  deserts,  and  have  made  our  beau- 
tiful world  into  a  slaughter-house  drenched  with 
blood  and  tears!  ("The  Celtic  Druids,"  by  Godfrey 
Higgins,  London,  1829.} 

A  great  religious  gathering  occurred  at  Penjamo,  a 
city  of  about  seven  thousand  people,  while  I  was  there, 
the  center  of  attraction,  if  not  the  only  attraction, 
being  the  presence  of  the  bishop.  The  train  on  which 
he  came  arrived  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  a 
station  about  three  miles  from  the  city,  reached  by  a 
mule-car  line. 

For  a  mile  or  more  down  the  railroad  track,  people 
were  lined  along  either  side  in  great  numbers,  as  well 
as  the  entire  length  of  the  mule-car  line,  to  welcome 
him  by  the  shooting  of  firecrackers;  and  in  the  city 
a  great  crowd,  acting  in  like  manner,  also,  awaited 


134  MEXICO. 

and  welcomed  him,  and  an  advance-guard  of  about 
twenty  men  on  horseback  rode  ahead  of  the  car  which 
took  him  from  the  station  to  the  city.  All  these 
people  kneeled  down,  the  men  removing  their  hats,  as 
the  bishop  appeared  and  passed  by,  which  is  the  cus- 
tom everywhere,  on  the  appearance  of  the  bishop  or 
his  carriage,  because  I  have  seen  people  kneel  on  hear- 
ing the  bishop's  carriage  approach,  before  they  could 
see  whether  he  was  in  it  or  not.  Arriving  at  the  city, 
the  bishop  proceeded  directly  to  the  principal  church ; 
in  a  very  few  minutes,  the  crowd  dispersed  completely, 
without  any  reassembling  during  the  day;  and,  aside 
from  some  extra  and  vigorous  church-bell  ringing,  one 
would  not  know  that  anything  had  happened  out  of 
the  usual  and  ordinary. 

This  kneeling  of  a  whole  populace  to  a  mere  man  is 
more  than  a  democratic  mind  is  inclined  to  stand; 
and  we,  in  the  do-as-you-please  United  States,  cannot 
comprehend  the  disposition  and  feeling  of  people 
raised  under  the  monarchical  re'gime,  either  in  church 
or  state.  A  gentleman  in  Mexico,  who  had  traveled 
in  Europe,  to  whom  I  mentioned  this  fact,  told  me 
that  he  saw,  in  London,  a  man  take  off  his  hat  as  the 
baggage-wagon  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  went  by! 
Nothing  would  seem  more  debasing  to  us. 

Further,  to  illustrate  this  feature  of  human  debase- 
ment, I  will  recall  one  of  Grimm's  fables,  which  I  once 
tried  to  read  in  the  original;  and,  for  that  reason, 
specially  remember  it. 

Two  men,  of  great  adroitness,  had  been  performing 
such  remarkable  things  as  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  daughter  of  the  king,  for  whom  they  agreed  to 
fill  a  certain  room  with  gold,  asking  only  the  recom- 


RELIGIOUS.  135 


pense  that  they  be  allowed  to  be  present  at  her  wed- 
ding, all  of  which  was,  of  course,  granted. 

Now,  the  point  is  this,  that  men  of  low  estate  con- 
sidered the  distinction  of  attending  a  royal  wedding 
of  more  value  than  a  roomful  of  gold ;  and  this,  at  one 
time,  and  still,  in  some  places,  is  the  condition  of  men's 
minds,  a  sad  state,  incomprehensible  to  many  of  us. 

But,  just  once  more!  On  the  return  of  the  imperial 
court,  at  the  end  of  the  Boxer  uprising  in  China,  a  few 
years  ago,  the  newspapers  told  us  that  the  soldiers 
and  the  populace  received  it  on  their  knees.  Such  is 
the  influence  of  custom;  and  I  repeat  with  Pindar, 
"Custom  is  the  king  of  all  men." 

An  incident  occurred  during  the  progress  of  this 
procession,  which  should  be  related  to  show  what 
politics  will  lead  men  to  do: 

A  prominent  politician,  and,  until  lately,  an  office- 
holder, resigning  in  favor  of  his  son,  who  had  fre- 
quently cursed  the  Catholic  Church  to  me,  or  in  my 
hearing,  and,  when  not  cursing  spoke  derogatorily 
of  it  and  its  priests,  was  on  the  street,  and  stepped 
into  a  private  house  to  avoid  kneeling  to  the  bishop, 
which  he  would  have  done,  had  he  not  been  able  to 
escape. 

What  will  not  politicians  do,  as  matter  of  policy, 
when  religion  is  involved!  With  great  force,  one  might 
here  recall  the  attitude  of  Henry  IV  of  France,  who, 
for  conscience,  when  he  was  king  of  Navarre,  was  a 
Reformer,  a  Protestant;  but,  when  he  became  king 
of  France,  and  policy  demanded  that  he  become  a 
Catholic,  said,  on  the  day  before  his  abjuration,  "To- 
morrow is  the  day  I  shall  make  the  summerset  which 
will  bring  down  the  house." 


136  MEXICO. 

We,  therefore,  see  that  the  present  can  neither  claim 
originality  nor  a  monopoly  in  spectacular  acrobatic 
performances. 

The  governmental  policies  of  Constantine  the  Great 
and  of  Henry  VIII,  as  respects  the  religions  they,  at 
various  times,  pretended  to  profess,  furnish  quite  as 
lively  examples. 

The  personal  customs  of  the  Mexicans,  especially 
when  a  large  crowd  of  them  has  collected  as  at  this 
religious  gathering,  cannot  be  looked  upon  with  very 
great  complacency.  Had  Diogenes  been  present,  at 
this  reception,  he  would  have  crawled  into  his  tub, 
and  turned  it  upside  down  over  him;  or,  if  his  house 
was  a  cask,  as  some  claim,  he  would  have  closed  even 
the  bunghole  for  shame;  but,  such  is  custom.  This 
came  to  the  native  Mexicans,  I  presume,  as  a  heritage 
from  Spain,  as,  I  am  informed,  a  like  practice  pre- 
vails in  all  the  Mediterranean  countries.  The  law  is 
being  enforced  against  it;  and,  in  a  list  of  arrests  and 
punishments  for  a  month,  which  I  examined  in  one  of 
the  towns,  a  great  many  were  for  "Failure  of  respect." 

A  short  time  before  my  arrival  in  the  City  of  Mexico, 
the  Shriners  held  a  great  conclave  there  for  the  purpose 
of  initiating  President  Diaz  into  the  mysteries  of  that 
order.  President  Diaz,  I  was  told,  is  a  devout  Catholic, 
going  to  confession  once  a  week ;  and  I  think  this  must 
be  the  first  instance  where  the  Catholic  Church  ever 
permitted  one  of  its  members  to  become  a  Mason. 
President  Diaz  might,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  ab- 
solute over  the  Catholic  Church  in  Mexico  as  he  is  over 
the  government ;  and  the  certainty  is,  that  the  Catholic 


RELIGIOUS.  137 


Church,  from  matter  of  policy,  in  which  that  institu- 
tion has  always  excelled,  will  permit  President  Diaz  to 
do  as  he  pleases;  and  that,  if,  beforehand,  President 
Diaz  had  submitted  to  the  church  the  question  as  to 
whether  or  not  he  could  consistently  become  a  Shriner, 
he  would  have  received  the  answer,  which  Cambyses, 
king  of  Persia,  got  from  the  judges,  that,  while  they 
could  find  no  law  permitting  the  act,  yet  they  had 
discovered  another,  permitting  the  king  of  Persia  to 
do  as  he  pleased. 

The  whole  text  from  which  this  reference  is  taken  is  so 
appropriate,  and  so  forcible  an  illustration  of  how 
policy  overrules  principle  in  great  matters  of  both 
church  and  state,  that  I  here  give  the  passage  in  full : 

Cambyses  became  enamored  of  one  of  his  sisters, 
and,  then,  being  desirous  of  making  her  his  wife,  be- 
cause he  proposed  doing  what  was  not  customary, 
he  summoned  the  royal  judges,  and  asked  them  if 
there  was  any  law  permitting  one  who  wished  to  marry 
his  sister.  The  royal  judges  are  men  chosen  from 
among  Persians,  who  continue  in  office  until  they  die, 
or  are  convicted  of  some  injustice.  They  determine 
causes  between  the  Persians,  and  are  the  interpreters 
of  the  ancient  constitutions,  and  all  questions  are  re- 
ferred to  them.  When,  therefore,  Cambyses  put  the 
question,  they  gave  an  answer  that  was  both  just  and 
safe,  saying  that  they  could  find  no  law  permitting  a 
brother  to  marry  his  sister,  but  had  discovered  another 
law  which  permitted  the  king  of  Persia  to  do  whatever 
he  pleased.  Thus  they  did  not  abrogate  the  law 
through  fear  of  Cambyses;  but,  that  they  might  not 
lose  their  lives  by  upholding  the  law,  they  found  out 
another  that  favored  his  desire  of  marrying  his  sister. 
(Herodotus,  Thalia,  31.) 


CHAPTER  V. 
POLITICAL. 

I  will  attempt  no  constitutional  history,  or  even 
outline,  of  Mexico,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  my 
stay  of  two  months  in  that  country  was  insufficient 
to  gather  the  information,  which  would  require  nearer 
two  years,  and  also  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  those 
interested  in  such  a  work  would  not  be  looking  for  it 
here;  and,  I  might  also  add,  that  I  do  not  know  of 
anybody  in  the  United  States,  interested  in  a  constitu- 
tional history  of  Mexico,  should  one  be  written;  and 
I  will  still  keep  on  adding  by  saying  that  most  of  us 
might  more  profitably  be  learning  our  own  constitu- 
tional history. 

M.  de  Tocqueville  spent  about  three  years  in  the 
United  States,  with  nothing  on  his  mind  but  the  in- 
vestigation of  governmental  and  social  conditions, 
before  he  wrote  his  "Democracy  in  America,"  and, 
therefore,  I  think  I  am  more  than  justified  in  excusing 
myself  from  entering  upon  the  constitutional  govern- 
ment of  Mexico,  when  I  was  there  but  two  months, 
and  all  that  time  engaged  in  a  business  enterprise, 
which  first  called  for  my  attention,  and  demanded  my 
efforts.  Only  think  of  the  difference  in  the  abilities 
and  attainments  of  the  two  authors  also!  Tocqueville, 
a  philosopher,  statesman,  author,  traveler;  and,  I,  I 
only  myself. 

[138] 


POLITICAL.  139 


I  feel,  also,  that  I  must  apologize  for  writing  at  all 
on  the  government  of  Mexico ;  but,  if  I  confine  myself 
to  what  I  .actually  observed  and  learned,  and  was  in- 
formed about,  I  think,  perhaps,  that  a  proper  excuse  is 
made  out;  and,  having  apologized  for  myself,  and 
excused  myself  also,  as  most  of  us  do  under  like  cir- 
cumstances, I  will  proceed. 

The  name  of  the  government,  as  shown  on  the  old 
coins,  a  complete  collection  of  which  I  brought  home 
with  me,  was  Republica  Mexicana;  but,  as  shown  on 
the  more  recent  coins,  the  name  is  now  Estados  Unidos 
Mexicanos,  which  comports  more  with  the  fact  than  the 
former  name;  because,  I  think,  about  the  first  thing  I 
observed,  when  trying  to  look  into  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, was  the  absence  of  a  republic,  but  the  presence 
of  united  states. 

How  very  much  we  might  learn  of  the  history  of  a 
country  by  a  study  of  its  coins  and  money  in  general, 
as,  also,  of  the  world  at  large!  I  fancy  that  one  who 
made  this  his  special  study  might  build  up  a  wonder 
quite  equal  to  Comparative  Anatomy,  which,  from  one 
bone  of  an  unknown  animal,  can  reproduce  scientifically 
the  entire  creature,  and  determine  its  habits  also. 

The  history  of  the  human  race,  if  we  only  knew  it, 
is  built  along  as  definite  and  certain  lines;  and  the 
time  may  come,  when  philosophers,  by  the  examina- 
tion of  a  single  coin,  will  be  able  to  settle  the  history 
of  the  nation. 

Upon  an  examination  of  the  coins  of  Mexico,  both 
old  and  new,  I  find  the  coinage,  from  a  mechanical 
standpoint,  very  badly  executed,  and  some  of  the  old- 
est I  was  able  to  find  were  not  milled  or  even  round. 

I  conclude  from  this  that  the  mechanical  arts  in 


140  MEXICO. 

general  are  yet  very  imperfect;  because,  if  perfection 
had  been  attained,  it  would  show  in  the  pride  of  well- 
made  coins,  so  that  I  pass  directly  from  the  specific 
conclusion  derived  from  imperfection  in  coinage,  to 
the  general  proposition  embracing  all  mechanical  arts. 

Where  we  find  imperfection  in  matters  of  the  great- 
est concern,  or  appealing  to  the  highest  pride,  we  may 
justly  conclude  the  existence  of  the  same  condition  in 
all  matters  beneath  these. 

I  see  from  the  coins  that  the  name  of  the  govern- 
ment has  changed,  and  I  hence  conclude  that  the  gov- 
ernment has,  also,  changed,  in  whole  or  in  part.  The 
name  of  republic  has  given  way  to  that  of  united  states ; 
and  I  hence  conclude  that  liberty  is  on  the  decline. 

On  the  old  coins,  I  find  no  boastful  mottoes;  but, 
on  the  new,  I  find  the  equivalents  of  "Independence 
and  Liberty." 

This  is  but  confirmatory  of  the  last  conclusion,  that 
these  human  rights  are  becoming  restricted. 

I  appeal  to  history  for  justification  of  this:  When 
men  were  free,  independence  and  liberty  were  not 
questions  nor  occupied  their  minds,  as  will  be  seen 
prior  to  the  existence  of  the  conditions  demanding  the 
enactment  of  the  Salic  law,  to  Magna  Charta,  and  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence;  and,  with  this,  I 
pass  hurriedly  on,  leaving  those  who  want  arguments, 
to  convince  themselves. 

I  find  the  gold  coins  of  much  smaller  dimensions 
than  the  silver,  and  less  numerous,  and,  hence,  conclude 
the  gold  to  be  the  more  valuable. 

I  also  draw  the  conclusion  that  the  gold  is  the  meas- 
ure of  value  of  the  silver. 

I  find  no  mention  of  God  on  their  coins,  and  I  there- 


POLITICAL.  141 


fore  conclude  that  the  people  are  heathen,  and  put 
their  money  to  bad  use.  If  they  had  "In  God  We 
Trust"  stamped  upon  their  coin,  nobody  would  dare 
to  steal  it. 

The  government  of  Mexico  is  founded  on  lines  al- 
most parallel  with  those  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  the  latter  being  used  as  the  model  of  the 
former;  but  we  are  much  puzzled,  when  we  come  to 
examine  the  superstructure;  and  this  difficulty  in- 
creases as  we  progress. 

While  perplexed  with  this  difficulty,  suppose  we 
leave  it  for  a  time,  coming  to  the  United  States,  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  if  we  can  reconcile  our  own 
governmental  practices  with  our  constitution  and 
laws ;  if  we  do  not  all  recall  many  instances  when  our 
constitutions  have  been  outraged  by  individual  and 
party  interests,  even  when  holding  on  to  the  very  horns 
of  the  altar;  if  we  have  not  had  laws  contrary  to 
these  constitutions ;  and,  if  we  have  not  seen  practices 
contrary  to  both  the  constitution  and  the  laws. 

Between  the  influence  and  practices  of  railroad 
companies,  in  managing  the  politics  and  controlling 
the  governments  of  the  States,  in  which  Pennsylvania 
and  Kansas  have  been  particularly  unfortunate,  and 
a  like  attempt  of  the  railroad  companies,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  such  corporations  as  the  Steel  Trust  and  the 
Sugar  Trust,  in  the  affairs  of  the  Nation,  not  much  has 
been  left  to  the  people. 

We  also  see  certain  States,  as,  for  instance,  Dela- 
ware, run  in  the  interest  of  individuals,  if  not  almost 
entirely  owned  by  them. 

Cities  and  towns  are  no  better;    and,  here,  the  in- 


142  MEXICO. 

stances  are  too  numerous  and  well  known  to  be  men- 
tioned, as  all  one  has  ordinarily  to  do,  is  to  refer  to  his 
own  city  or  town. 

Our  mayor,  serving  for  a  nominal  sum,  has  the  ef- 
frontery to  disregard  even  the  criminal  instinct  of 
concealing  the  stolen  goods,  but  flaunting  them  in 
our  face,  as  legitimate  perquisites  of  the  office,  he  sets 
up  his  newly-acquired  wealth,  as  a  conspicuous  and 
standing  advertisement  before  our  very  eyes. 

Our  councilmen  are  no  better,  but  fortunately  op- 
portunities are  less. 

Arrests,  convictions  and  punishments  may  be  num- 
erous, but  they  neither  act  as  a  preventive  nor  a  cure ; 
and  the  suffering  of  the  people,  therefore,  continues  un- 
mitigated. People  hope,  but  in  vain,  for  relief  from 
coming  elections,  which,  too  frequently,  only  remove 
a  full,  to  be  replaced  by  an  empty,  leech. 

The  fable  of  "The  Fox  and  the  Leeches"  is  here  very 
appropriate : 

A  Fox,  in  crossing  a  river,  was  thrust  out  of  her 
course  into  a  drain,  and  being  unable  to  get  out,  was 
harassed,  for  a  long  time,  by  leeches  which  had  fas- 
tened themselves  upon  her,  when  a  Hedgehog,  wander- 
ing by,  saw  her,  and,  taking  compassion  upon  her, 
asked  if  he  should  pick  off  the  leeches ;  but  this  the 
Fox  would  not  permit,  saying  that  these  leeches  had 
already  filled  themselves  with  her  blood;  and,  if  re- 
moved, would  only  give  room  for  other  empty  ones, 
whose  hunger  would  drain  from  her  all  the  blood  she 
had  remaining.  (vEsop,  in  pleading  for  a  demagogue 
at  Samos,  Arist.  Rhet.,  book  2,  chap.  20.) 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  what  becomes  of  the  will  of 
the  people,  when  they  feel  obliged  to  hold  on  to  their 
present  evils,  lest  they  only  exchange  them  for  worse  ? 


POLITICAL.  143 


The  will  of  the  people  is  the  basis  of  all  good  govern- 
ment; but  the  people  have  never  yet  been  able  to 
govern.  Individuals,  families,  classes,  organizations, 
bodies,  parties,  have  always  been  our  governors,  and 
frequently  against  our  will. 

The  will  of  the  people  finds  no  expression  in  Amer- 
ican politics.  The  machine,  as  constructed,  produces 
only  one  result,  no  matter  who  operates  it ;  and  those 
who  talk  about  "the  political  machine"  speak  more 
wisely  than  they  know. 

In  the  practical  operation  of  our  government  to-day, 
to  speak  more  respectfully  than  to  say,  in  the  running 
of  the  political  machine,  we  find  little  to  comport  with 
the  ideas  of  its  founders,  and  less  to  harmonize  with 
the  will  of  the  people,  and,  least  of  all,  to  benefit  the 
people. 

Having  thus  briefly  viewed  results,  that  I  might 
better  ascertain  and  appreciate  their  cause,  I  return 
to  antecedent  conditions. 

Beginning  now  with  the  right  of  suffrage  in  Mexico, 
ordinarily  considered  the  foundation  of  republican 
government,  I  find  that  all  male  persons,  over  the  age 
of  majority,  may  cast  votes  at  elections ;  but  that  they 
are  denied  any  participation  in  counting  the  votes, 
that  privilege  being  reserved  to  those  already  hold- 
ing office,  the  result  of  which  system  is,  that  the  people 
do  not  vote,  but  only  the  officeholders,  and  those  di- 
rectly controlled  by  them. 

After  the  sovereign  right  to  vote  is  disposed  of, 
which,  ordinarily,  gives  us  a  free  choice  among  parties, 
comes  the  question  next  in  order,  "For  whom  shall 
we  vote?"  In  the  United  States,  we  are  always  saved 


144  MEXICO. 

any  worry  on  this  point,  because  we,  the  people,  never 
have  anything  to  say  as  to  who  the  candidate  shall  be ; 
and  the  thing,  in  reality,  resolves  itself  to  a  choice 
among  parties.  Those  who  disregard  party  and  vote 
for  candidate,  ordinarily  throw  their  vote  away. 

In  Mexico,  matters  are  very  much  simplified,  as, 
but  one  candidate  is  all  that  ordinarily  appears,  who 
is  named  by  the  central  government  at  the  City  of 
Mexico;  and,  to  him,  opposition  is  ordinarily  not 
made,  not  only  because  of  its  uselessness,  but  because, 
also,  of  propriety  and  safety,  which  I  have  heard  men- 
tioned as  determining  elements. 

President  Diaz  designates  the  candidate  for  the 
office  of  governor  of  every  state,  as  well  as  all  other 
chief  officers  in  the  country,  elected  by  popular  vote, 
or  supposed  to  be ;  and  he  even  transferred  a  governor 
from  one  state  to  another ;  but,  if  he  does  not  extend 
this  actual  control  to  all  offices,  the  certainty  is,  that 
no  person  could  be  elected,  if  elected  we  can  call  it, 
to  any  office,  of  whatever  nature  or  insignificance,  if 
he  were  distasteful  to  President  Diaz. 

No  other  fact  is  more  talked  of  or  better  known  in 
the  country  than  this,  so  that  every  officeholder  in 
the  country  owes  his  position  directly  and  personally 
to  President  Diaz,  is  under  his  direct  and  immediate 
control,  and  does  not  act,  except  by  his  directions,  or 
in  accordance  to  his  known  will  or  policy. 

All  laws  desired  by  President  Diaz  are  passed  unani- 
mously, and  none  proposed,  without  first  ascertain- 
ing his  desire. 

From  the  following,  in  cautious  reserve,  by  a  native 
of  the  country,  the  ascendency  of  the  President  of 


POLITICAL.  145 


Mexico  in  rendering  the  remainder  of  the  government 
a  mere  machine,  is  shown : 

With  the  restless,  inconstant  character  of  our  race, 
the  long  tenure  of  office  by  one  man  is  one  of  the  great- 
est dangers  of  the  peace  of  the  nation;  yet,  notwith- 
standing, General  Diaz  has  succeeded  in  avoiding  ship- 
wreck on  this  shoal,  making  himself  all  but  indispensa- 
ble to  the  completion  of  the  reconstructive  and  con- 
ciliatory work  of  which  he  is  the  true  and  only  author. 
The  work  of  pacification  accomplished  by  General 
Diaz  has  consisted  in  the  strengthening  of  the  central 
power,  and  the  discreet  use  of  his  personal  prestige 
and  influence  for  the  purpose  of  securing  in  all  the 
states  of  the  Mexican  Union  the  election  of  governors 
attached  to  him  personally,  and  resolved  to  second  him 
at  any  cost  in  the  task  of  assuring  to  the  country  the 
supreme  benefit  of  peace,  as  the  most  imperious  ne- 
cessity of  the  Mexican  people.  The  patriotic  convic- 
tion of  the  urgency,  for  a  nation  bleeding  and  weak- 
ened as  ours  has  been,  of  a  convalescent  political  re- 
gime to  enable  us  to  recuperate  our  shattered  strength, 
has  facilitated  the  insensible  and  voluntary  creation 
of  a  system  of  governmental  discipline  wherein  the 
federal  units,  like  the  wheels  of  an  immense  machine, 
receive  without  shock  the  impulse  of  force  which  is 
conveyed  to  them  from  the  great  central  motor. 

"Machine,"  as  designating  a  certain  kind  of  politics 
and  government  with  us,  is  not  indicative  of  p'raise; 
but  the  author  of  this  quotation  is  Very  much  taken 
with  his  metaphor.  We,  however,  find  those  who 
are,  at  once,  so  lucky  and  unfortunate  as  to  constitute 
one  of  the  wheels  of  this  machine,  and,  frequently, 
though  but  a  single  cog,  not  objecting  to  the  appli- 
cation of  the  grease,  so  necessary  to  keep  down  friction. 

Not  only  in  the  States,  but  in  the  federal  govern- 
ment as  Well,  President  Diaz  is  in  full  cdntr'bl,  and  the 


146  MEXICO. 

Mexican  Congress,  like  the  assemblies  convoked  by 
Charlemagne  in  the  eighth  century,  discusses  and  de- 
liberates, but  only  to  concur  in  the  will  of  the  chief. 

The  deliberations  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  are  likewise  under  the  dominion  of  a  master,  not 
a  man  in  this  case,  but  a  political  policy. 

The  results,  in  both  countries,  so  far  as  the  people 
are  concerned,  from  the  operation  of  methods  so  akin 
in  principle,  must  necessarily  be  the  same. 

Therefore,  the  interests  served  in  this  domineering 
control  are  those  of  individuals  and  factions,  and  this 
at  the  expense  of  the  people. 

All  private  and  business  enterprises  are  likewise 
under  the  absolute  will  of  President  Diaz,  an  example 
of  which  I  will  give,  as  it  touches  an  enterprise  con- 
sidering itself  the  most  independent. 

While  I  was  in  the  city,  a  high  railroad  official  at- 
tempted suicide,  after  having  been  discharged  from 
his  position  on  account  of  drunkenness;  the  news- 
papers of  the  city,  of  course,  were  preparing  to  print 
the  item  as  matter  of  news,  all  having  it  set  up,  and 
one  of  the  papers  having  gone  so  far  as  to  have  run 
off  its  edition,  when  word  was  sent  around  to  them  by 
President  Diaz  not  to  print  anything  about  it,  which 
order  was  obeyed  implicitly;  and  the  paper  which 
had  rtm  off  its  edition,  not  being  able  to  get  out  an- 
other, issued  none  that  day,  without  being  able  to 
explain  to  the  public  why. 

The  attempted  suppression  of  news  sometimes  has 
an  opposite  effect ;  and,  I  think,  that  is  what  occurred 
here. 

' .  The  right  to  publish  is,  therefore,  classed  along  with 
the  right  to  vote  and  hold  office;  but  this  condition 


POLITICAL.  147 


must  be  extended  to  everything,  absolutely  every- 
thing in  Mexico,  and  we  need  spend  no  further  time 
with  particulars. 

Mexico  is  absolutely,  immediately  and  irrevocably 
handled  by  President  Diaz;  I  cannot  say  controlled, 
because  he  does  it  himself.  No  parallel  of  like  abso- 
lutism has  ever  existed;  and  I  say  this  after  having 
called  over  the  governments  of  the  earth.  While 
some  of  them,  particularly  some  of  the  dynasties  of 
Egypt,  hold  a  close  relation  to  conditions  in  Mexico, 
yet  they  were  never  safe,  either  as  against  their  own 
subjects  or  from  foreign  invasion;  but,  in  Mexico, 
the  government  of  President  Diaz  is  safe  from  every 
peril,  and  is  sure  to  continue  through  his  lifetime. 
What  other  government  in  the  world  ever  held  by 
such  a  tenure? 

President  Diaz,  however,  does  not  seem  to  be  as 
sure  of  this  as  I;  because,  I  was  told,  on  authority 
worthy  of  belief,  that  he  had  deposited,  in  Paris  and 
in  London,  the  neat  little  bank  account  of  $40,000,000, 
which  would  be  sufficient  to  guard  against  even  the 
eventualities  of  monarchies,  as  well  as  furnishing  a 
safeguard,  in  that  England  and  France  would  natu- 
rally take  opposite  sides  in  any  international  question 
involving  the  existence  of  the  government  of  Mexico, 
so  that,  if  it  came  to  that,  the  deposit,  at  one  place  or 
the  other,  would  be  safe  as  against  its  return  to  the 
people  of  Mexico. 

President  Diaz'  son-in-law  owns  a  hacienda  of,  to 
me,  an  unknown  number  of  acres;  and  he  has  upon 
it  his  own  standard-gauge  railroad,  which  I  myself 
saw;  but  the  wealth  of  the  President  himself  >  I  was 


148  MEXICO. 

told,  is  all  in  cash,  or  equivalent  securities,  the  amount 
unknown. 

The  condition-  of  the  people,  elsewhere  given,  need 
only  be  referred  to  here  for  contrast,  and  I  am  glad 
to  be  saved  the  pain  of  again  stating  it. 

Here  briefly  is  what  shows  upon  the  surface  in  the 
government  of  Mexico,  a  one-man  government  in  all 
its  operations;  and  my  surprise,  in  not  seeing  a  re- 
public, is  now  explained. 

Before  leaving  Absolutism,  I  want  to  pay  my  re- 
spects to  those  domineering  politicians  in  our  own 
country,  who  hold  themselves  out  as  authority  on  all 
subjects,  and  want  to  be  the  father,  mother,  brother, 
sister,  uncle,  aunt  and  guardian  of  the  whole  nation; 
but  who  may  have  so  far  fallen  short,  even  of  the 
office  of  father,  as  to  have  raised  daughters  who  drink 
whisky  and  smoke  cigarettes. 

I  want  to  advise  them  that  this  is  not  the  way  to 
become  absolute,  as,  by  this,  they  only  nauseate  the 
public;  but,  they  should  turn  to  the  army,  as  they 
will  need  that,  and  that  alone,  to  create  and  sustain 
the  condition  they  seek. 

If  anyone  thinks  our  country  is  coming  to  abso- 
lutism, he  can  determine  that  fact  through  the  status 
of  the  army,  which  would  seem  to  indicate  that,  at 
present,  we  are  safe  from  absolutism;  our  people,  on 
account  of  the  remunerations  of  agriculture,  mining, 
and  trade,  have  no  desire  to  acquire  wealth  by  con- 
quest or  rebellion;  not  that  they  are  of  a  pacific  turn 
of  mind;  but  they  are  finding  gratification  for  their 
desires  in  other  directions.  Restrict  our  people  here, 
and  they  would  become  as  turbulent  and  warlike  at 
home,  as  they  are  now  courageous  to  meet  a  foreign  foe. 


POLITICAL.  149 


But  a  stable  government  of  any  kind,  even  a  pure 
military  despotism,  however  unequal  the  distribution 
of  its  powers  and  benefits,  is  better  than  the  anarchy 
of  continual  revolutions. 

Modifications,  and,  sometimes,  changes,  are  desira- 
ble in  governments,  that  they  may  serve  the  people 
in  unforeseen  wants  or  'exigencies ;  and  the  necessity, 
therefore,  exists  of  having  a  form  pliable  enough  for 
adaptation  to  the  new  condition. 

Despotisms,  like  a  great  vase,  may  be  variously 
colored  and  ornamented,  but  their  shape  and  texture 
must  remain  the  same;  and,  hence,  only  the  gratifica- 
tion of  show  can  be  derived  from  them  in  adaptation 
to  conditions. 

Aristocracies  can  bend  only  in  the  stiff  attitude  of 
a  family  out  of  sympathy  with  the  community  in  which 
it  lives,  but  from  which  it  gets  its  support. 

In  oligarchies,  the  nation  is  resolved  into  a  business 
proposition. 

Only  in  democracies,  as  with  a  house  built  of  bricks, 
may  the  structure  be  modified  at  will,  without  the  loss 
or  destruction  of  the  material. 

While  Mexico  is  now  enjoying  the  blessings  of  an 
enforced  peace,  without  probability  of  change,  the 
United  States  is  experiencing  a  political  revolution  in 
the  methods  of  selecting  and  electing  its  officers,  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest,  being  now  in  the  experimen- 
tal stage,  without  much  indication  as  to  the  final  re- 
sult ;  but  out  of  the  confusion  of  ballots,  the  methods 
of  casting  them,  and  the  selection  of  candidates  and  the 
choice  of  officers,  the  will  of  the  people  must  eventually 
be  evolved,  retarded  indeed,  by  constitutions,  which 


150  MEXICO. 

neither  express  the  will  nor  provide  for  the  necessities 
of  the  people;  but  the  work  is,  nevertheless,  progress- 
ing. 

Influence  over  the  voter  at  the  polls  has  quite,  if  not 
entirely,  disappeared ;  but  party  leaders  still  name  the 
candidates,  leaving  the  voter  only  the  choice  between 
the  parties;  and,  while  he  is  exercising  the  great  fran- 
chise of  choice,  he  is  still  unable  to  express  his  will. 
Everybody  is  free  to  enter  the  race,  but  the  winners  are 
named  in  advance  by  the  few.  The  people  will  even- 
tually select  their  candidates;  and,  from  among  their 
candidates,  will,  in  the  exercise  of  more  deliberation, 
choose  their  officers ;  and  this  will  apply  to  all  officers ; 
but  the  means  by  which  are  not  yet  determined. 

How  is  President  Diaz  maintaining  himself  in  this 
position  of  absolute  dictator?  Answer:  By  the  army. 

How  did  he  bring  about  the  present  condition  of 
affairs?  Answer:  By  the  army. 

How  did  he  obtain  command  of  the  army?  Answer: 
By  revolution. 

How  did  he  become  the  central  or  all-dominant 
figure  in  the  revolution?  Answer:  By  being  the 
strongest  character  in  it. 

How  did  that  revolution  arise,  and  for  what  purpose? 
Answer:  By  revolt  or  rebellion  against  the  then  es- 
tablished government  to  get  possession  of  it. 

Was  the  government  overthrown  by  Diaz  the  legal 
and  regularly  established  government  of  the  coun- 
try? Answer:  No  man  can  tell. 

What  degree  of  peace  and  domestic  prosperity,  prior 
to  this  time,  and  following  the  achievement  of  her 
independence,  had  Mexico  enjoyed?  Answer:  None, 
practically  none. 


POLITICAL.  151 


During  this  time,  had  the  citizens  been  safe  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  lives  and  property?  Answer:  If 
you  mean  the  natives,  who  formed  more  than  ninety- 
five  percent  of  the  population,  they  had  no  property 
to  enjoy;  and,  being  slaves,  their  lives  did  not  demand 
the  consideration  of  safety. 

Who  was  governing  Mexico  then  during  that  time? 
Answer:  Nobody.  Misrule  or  anarchy  was  its  con- 
dition. 

What,  then,  was  the  status  of  affairs?  Answer: 
Aside  from  the  short  reign  of  Maximilian,  in  the  gov- 
ernment established  by  France  in  the  "sixties,"  which 
was  infinitely  worse  for  the  country  than  the  attempts 
at  home  rule,  the  history  is  that  of  a  series  of  military 
uprisings,  rebellions  and  revolutions,  arising  mostly 
among  the  Spanish-Mexican  factions  in  the  country, 
for  the  loot  of  government,  until  the  final  rising  of 
the  natives,  which  drove  those  people  and  their  con- 
tentions to  the  rear,  and  brought  Diaz  to  the  front. 

Why  should  not  Diaz  then  be  named  along  with 
Bozzaris,  Bolivar,  and  Washington?  Answer:  He 
should  and  he  is ;  and  not  only  this,  but  he  has  a  char- 
acter for  war  and  government  stronger  than  any  of 
those  great  names. 

But  you  have  spoken  of  Diaz  as  rebel  and  outlaw; 
explain  yourself.  Answer:  These  names  only  attach 
to  a  man  when  he  fails,  and  are  swallowed  up  in  revo- 
lution. In  my  turn,  I  ask  what  would  have  become  of 
the  names  of  Bozzaris,  Bolivar  and  Washington,  had 
their  causes  failed? 

Why  not  then  is  the  present  government  of  Mexico 
right  and  proper?  Answer:  The  future  will  have  to 
answer  this  question ;  I  am  neither  oracle  nor  prophet ; 


152  MEXICO. 

but,  in  so  far  as  military  despotisms  present  themselves 
in  history,  we  find  that,  during  the  ascendency  of  their 
creator  and  promoter,  they  maintain  themselves  with 
great  dominance,  and  go  to  pieces  with  the  fall  of  their 
leader,  which  is  always  the  rule  in  warfare,  also,  carried 
on  by  the  will  and  direction  of  one  man.  Under 
these  governments,  the  people  are  never  happy  or 
prosperous. 

Whether  the  terrible  severity  which  President  Diaz 
exercised  in  putting  down  all  opposition  to  his  govern- 
ment was  justifiable,  as  homicide,  under  proper  cir- 
cumstances and  conditions,  is  justifiable,  must  be  de- 
cided at  that  long  distance  in  the  future,  when  the  mind 
of  the  historian  and  philosopher,  uninfluenced  by  the 
times,  can,  calmly  and  laboriously,  like  the  geologist, 
digging  through  strata,  tell  what  the  history  has  been. 

By  simply  calling  attention  to  the  killing,  by  the 
soldiery,  of  the  ex-governor  of  Zacatecas  and  his  com- 
panion in  the  highway,  because  suspected  of  intending 
to  foment  a  rebellion,  and  of  nine  of  the  principal  mer- 
chants of  Vera  Cruz,  in  the  same  manner  and  for  the 
same  purpose,  and  the  disappearance  of  political  op- 
ponents, things  still  universally  and  constantly  talked 
about  in  Mexico,  I  leave  this  phase  of  the  subject. 

If  the  acts  of  President  Diaz,  in  the  establishment  of 
his  government,  have  passed  into  history,  awaiting  a 
day  of  judgment,  we  cannot  say  as  much  for  all  his 
acts,  and,  particularly,  those  of  the  present,  in  which 
all  men  have  an  interest. 

While  in  Mexico,  I  heard  that  thirty  striking  work- 
men at  Puebla,  or  some  other  place  in  that  vicinity, 
statements  differing,  had  been  lined  up  by  the  soldiers 
and  shot.  On  account  of  the  control  which  President 


POLITICAL.  153 


Diaz  exercises  over  the  press,  everybody  knows  that 
matters  of  this  kind  are  not  likely  to  get  before  the 
public,  except  by  rumor,  like  the  affairs  in  Europe 
during  the  Middle  Ages;  and  as  no  one  knows  what 
credence  to  give  to  these  reports,  the  result  is,  they 
obtain  wider  circulation  and  more  comment  than  if 
regularly  or  properly  published,  thus  producing  vaga- 
ries, fears,  suspicions,  distrust ;  yet  nobody  dares  com- 
plain. 

Now  this  rumor  of  the  shooting  by  the  soldiers, 
without  trial,  of  the  thirty  striking  workmen,  might 
have  been  entirely  without  foundation,  and  might  have 
been  a  mere  and  purposely-circulated  falsification; 
but  the  unfortunate  thing  is,  that  it  had  more  force 
than  the  truth;  and  the  still  more  unfortunate  thing 
is,  that  the  present  restriction  of  legitimate  news 
creates  a  condition  where  any  false  and  plausible  rumor 
may  be  set  afoot  for  the  very  purpose  of  working  mis- 
chief. 

On  September  15th  and  16th,  the  people  of  Mexico 
celebrate  their  Independence  Day;  and,  I  was  told, 
their  demonstrations  scarcely  know  any  bounds,  reach- 
ing far  into  the  mischievous,  and  often  approaching 
the  destructive,  such  as  was  seen  a  couple  of  years 
ago,  when  our  fall  festivals  were  running  at  their 
height,  but  which  have  now,  fortunately,  fallen  into 
disrepute  and  disuse. 

In  1906,  however,  all  demonstration  was  suppressed 
by  the  army,  on  account  of  a  report  having  gotten 
current  that  an  uprising  of  the  people  against  the 
government  was  to  be  made  at  that  time;  but  this 
year,  1907,  the'  usual  celebration  was  had. 

I  made  inquiries  regarding  conditions  in  Septem- 


154  MEXICO. 

her,  1906,  and  find  that  the  government  had  taken 
this  action  on  the  ground  that  certain  Mexicans,  liv- 
ing in  the  United  States,  and  publishing  papers  in 
which  they  were  constantly  attacking  the  govern- 
ment, had  created  such  a  feeling  at  home,  that  the 
people  were  in  a  rebellious  frame  of  mind;  but  the 
opposition  claimed  that  this  course  on  the  part  of 
the  government  was  without  justification,  and  was 
a  scheme  to  call  to  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the 
country  that  their  greatest  enemies  were  these  refu- 
gee Mexicans  in  the  United  States. 

On  these  disputes,  the  future  historian  must  come 
to  the  rescue,  and  determine,  in  the  light  of  eventu- 
alities, the  operating  cause,  the  policy,  and  the  result. 

I  heard  much  said  and  many  rumors  were  afloat 
about  one  of  these  Mexican  editors  at  El  Paso,  Texas, 
who  was  residing  there,  and  issuing  a  sheet  against 
the  Mexican  government,  some  saying  he  had  been 
taken  and  delivered  to  the  Mexican  authorities  at  the 
center  of  the  bridge  between  El  Paso  and  Cuidad 
Juarez;  others,  that  he  had  been  taken,  and  allowed 
to  enter  a  telegraph  office  at  El  Paso  on  the  pretense 
of  sending  a  message,  giving  the  officers  the  slip  through 
the  back  door;  and  still  other  accounts  were  given. 
The  people  of  Mexico,  under  their  system  of  news, 
have  no  way  of  finding  out,  and  I  made  no  inquiries 
as  to  the  fact  at  El  Paso.  The  effect  of  such  rumors 
on  the  Mexican  mind,  and  not  the  determination  of 
the  fact,  is  where  my  purpose  ceased. 

Unrestricted  publication  of  all  facts  at  the  proper 
time,  and  in  the  proper  manner,  with  the  require- 
ment of  decency  placed  upon  opinions,  should  be 
the  law  and  the  practice  of  the  case. 


POLITICAL.  155 


Bad  news  is  better  than  no  news,  because  the  facts 
should  be  known;  and  "Suspense  consumeth  the 
soul." 

Of  the  future  of  Mexico,  I  need  only  repeat,  that, 
during  the  life  of  President  Diaz,  the  present  status 
will  be  maintained;  and  that,  beyond  that,  all  will  be 
confusion.  The  government  being  of  one  man,  like 
a  house  on  but  a  single  prop,  will  fall  with  him.  Nothing 
can  save  it;  because  only  another  Diaz  could  main- 
tain it,  and  the  present  is  the  only  one  produced  since 
the  world  began,  which  precludes  the  idea  of  an  imme- 
diate reproduction;  and  I  doubt  much  if  ever  the 
world  will  produce  another.  Some  men  are  so  dis- 
tinctive, that  they  stand  alone  in  the  world's  history. 

President  Diaz  is,  I  should  think,  a  full-blood  na- 
tive Mexican  Indian,  although  statements  on  this 
question  differ,  some  saying  he  is  a  halfbreed;  but 
the  question  will  always  remain  undecided,  for  his 
father  is  unknown.  He  is  much  darker  than  shown 
by  his  pictures  and  statuettes,  so  many  of  which  we 
see,  and  this  is  my  chief  reason  for  saying  he  is  a  full- 
blood. 

Statements  also  differ  as  to  his  tribe,  two  tribes 
claiming  him. 

His  history  may  be  briefly  sketched:  Raised  an 
orphan  boy,  receiving  a  military  training,  turning 
rebel,  then  outlaw,  fleeing  from  his  country  in  disguise, 
returning  a  revolutionist,  then  perpetual  president. 

I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  a  man  who  was  em- 
ployed in  the  family  of  President  Diaz,  during  the 
turbulent  times  which  led  to  his  present  position, 
when  almost  all  the  history  concerning  the  present 


156  MEXICO. 

status  of  affairs  was  made;  and  we  sat  up  most  of  two 
nights  talking,  which  reminded  me  much  like  read- 
ing the  tales  of  European  monarchs,  obtained  from 
their  servants. 

Were  I  not  under  personal  obligations  and  con- 
fidence; I  would  write,  at  least,  an  outline  of  what  he 
told  me;  but,  as  the  matter  stands,  this  must  be  a 
closed  chapter. 

Having  thus  given  a  brief  outline  of  appearances 
rather  than  realities  respecting  the  government  of 
Mexico,  in  general,  I  will  now  touch  upon  some  of  the 
details;  and,  as,  with  us,  the  States  and  their  govern- 
ment would  most  naturally  attract  our  attention,  in  an 
examination  of  affairs  in  our  own  country,  I  will  now 
refer  to  the  States  of  Mexico. 

In  Mexico,  the  States,  about  thirty  in  number,  are, 
in  reality,  but  provinces  of  the  general  government; 
while,  in  the  United  States,  they  are  independent 
sovereignties,  except  as  to  the  powers  delegated  by 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  situation  may  be  stated  thus: 

In  the  United  States,  the  government  is,  primarily, 
in  the  States,  except  such  matters  of  national  concern 
as  are  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  consti- 
tution for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  central  govern- 
ment of  all  the  States;  while,  in  Mexico,  the  central 
government,  being  but  the  continuance  of  a  military 
revolution,  is  everything,  and  the  States  nothing,  ex- 
cept by  the  grace  or  permission  of  the  central  power, 
and  exist  only  at  the  will  or  pleasure  of  the  central 
government,  which  is  Diaz  himself. 

In  the  United  States,  the  power  flows,  by  consti- 


POLITICAL.  157 


tutional  guaranty,  from  the  States  or  the  people  to 
the  central  government,  whose  power  it  then  consti- 
tutes; while,  in  Mexico,  as  now  exercised,  all  power 
is  in  the  central  government,  and  flows,  thence,  at 
will  or  pleasure,  to  the  States. 

Those,  among  us,  who  advocate  a  more  potent 
federal  government,  may  find  an  exemplification  of 
that  idea  carried  to  its  limit  in  Mexico;  and,  if  this 
is  their  ideal,  they  must  set  about  the  establishment 
of  it  by  nothing  less  than  a  military  revolution,  and 
must,  as  in  Mexico,  maintain  it  by  the  army.  If  their 
ideas  fall  short  of  extreme  military  absolutism,  I  leave 
it  to  them  to  say  where  they  wish  to  stop ;  and,  later 
on,  to  advise  the  means  for  calling  a  halt  at  the  proper 
time. 

In  the  United  States,  we  have  a  numerous  class, 
otherwise  calling  themselves  democratic  in  principle, 
but  who  urge,  with  passion,  the  centralization  of  al- 
most unlimited  power  in  all  matters,  in  the  federal 
government,  never  once  suspecting,  if  they  think  at 
all  on  the  subject,  that  the  centralization  for  which 
they  contend  means  an  entire  change  in  the  form  of 
our  government  to  the  extinguishment  of  the  rights 
of  the  people;  and  so  earnest  and  persistent  do  they 
seem  to  be,  as  to  give  their  attitude  all  the  appear- 
ance of  that  devotion  characteristic  of  fanatical  ad- 
herence to  a  religious  tenet. 

Earnestness  and  persistency  are  more  frequently 
indulged  in  the  advocacy  of  error  than  truth. 

In  the  United  States,  the  terms  "the  States"  and 
"the  people"  are  equivalent;  and,  particularly,  is 

this  true  of  the  tenth  amendment : 

i 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by 


158  MEXICO. 

the  constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States, 
are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

I  am  unqualifiedly  in  favor  of  maintaining,  in  its 
full  force  and  effect,  this  provision  of  the  constitution, 
which  makes  the  States  or  the  people  the  primary 
governing  power,  and  the  central  government,  or  the 
United  States,  in  the  language  of  the  amendment,  to 
consist  only  of  the  powers  delegated  by  the  consti- 
tution. Those,  who  think  they  see,  in  the  federal 
government,  a  power  greater  than  the  States,  the 
people,  who  delegated  it,  have  committed  the  error, 
so  common  to  the  individual  as  well  as  to  the  race, 
of  regarding  the  creature  greater  than  its  creator; 
and  we  are  not  without  examples,  some  even  in  our 
own  day,  where  those  elevated  to  an  office,  which 
they  are,  in  no  manner  worthy  to  fill,  have  proceeded, 
with  such  a  degree  of  egotism  and  ignorance,  as  to 
disregard  both  the  creator  and  the  creature,  the  people 
and  the  government;  and,  when  brought  to  a  halt, 
seemed  to  take  it  as  a  surprise  that  any  power  should 
exist  to  prevent  them  from  doing  as  they  pleased; 
but  such  is  one,  and  the  greatest,  danger  to  which  all 
governments  are  subject. 

These  madmen  always  communicate  their  malady 
to  the  susceptible  portion  of  the  community,  and  thus 
infected,  they  often  rush  to  their  own  destruction, 
dragging  the  suffering  nation  with  them.  Where  the 
people  have  not  delegated  too  much  of  their  power, 
this  cannot  happen;  but  all  nations,  as  now  consti- 
tuted, are  in  danger  of  it,  so  that  the  conclusion  is 
irresistible  that  all  States,  all  people,  have  delegated 
too  much  of  their  power  consistent  with  their  greatest 
gdo'd  and  surest  safety. 


POLITICAL.  159 


A  state  or  government  once  established,  the  money 
with  which  to  run  it,  speaking  from  a  business  stand- 
point, becomes  all-important;  and  this  is  what  has 
often  placed  ministers  of  finance,  in  their  relations  with 
the  government,  in  so  exalted  a  position,  sometimes 
even  in  the  control  of  the  crown  they  have  served, 
which  condition  of  affairs  is  especially  marked  in 
Europe  down  to  our  own  times ;  but,  as  the  resources 
of  the  United  States  have  been  so  great,  and  the  means 
for  raising  money  for  governmental  purposes  so  easy, 
except  during  and  following  the  Revolution  and  the 
Rebellion,  that  we  number  but  the  names  of  Alexander 
Hamilton  and  Salmon  P.  Chase,  as  the  only  men  of  dis- 
tinction as  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury. 

In  Mexico,  while  the  present  government  was  es- 
tablished by  Diaz,  yet  he  could  not  have  maintained 
it,  had  he  not  had  the  services  of  a  most  able  financier 
and  statesman,  Le  Mantuer. 

By  an  internal  revenue  or  stamp  tax,  the  govern- 
ment of  Mexico  supplies  itself  with  most  of  the  money 
needed  for  its  expenditures;  and  almost  every  paper 
or  document  of  any  kind  must  bear  its  appropriate 
stamps.  Licenses  are  issued  to  cover  occupations  and 
business,  on  which  must  be  pasted  and  canceled  at 
regtilar  intervals  the  requisite  stamps. 

I  think  an  internal  stamp  tax  is  the  proper  way  of 
raising  governmental  revenue ;  or,  at  least,  the  greater 
portion  of  the  money  required  for  governmental  ex- 
penditures, with  the  least  disturbance  to  trade.  Our 
prejudice  against  it  is  entirely  due  to  the  Stamp  Tax 
of  our  history,  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  our  Revolution ; 
and  our  repulsion  for  the  fact  has  been  continued  by 
our  prejudice  for  the  method,  as  if  that  had  anything 


160  MEXICO. 

to  do  with  the  real  injustice  of  the  case,  which  was  the 
unlawful  taking,  and  not  the  manner  of  the  taking. 
On  the  same  principle,  we  ought  to  lick  our  postage 
stamps  with  regret. 

Mexico  also  has  a  tariff  tax,  which  is  adjusted  to  re- 
quirements, not  of  revenue,  but  of  the  business  condi- 
tions of  the  country ;  and  this  is  what  a  tariff  should  be. 
If,  in  Mexico,  the  country  needs  wheat,  the  tariff  is 
taken  off,  and  wheat  is  admitted  free;  if  the  country 
has  wheat  to  sell,  a  tax  is  imposed  on  the  importations, 
so  that  the  government  as  well  as  the  people  at  large 
profit  by  thus  striking  the  proper  equilibrium  between 
supply  and  demand,  and  this  produces  such  a 
uniformity  of  price,  as  to  keep  this  greatest  of  our 
necessities  out  of  the  scale  of  speculation.  How  much 
we  might  learn  from  Mexico! 

In  the  United  States,  everything  is  quite  different. 
The  government  raises  its  revenues  by  a  system  of 
Protection,  a  fair  name  for  a  foul  thing,  a  protection 
for  infants  even,  as  we  are  told,  infant  industries,  some 
having  grown  so  big  and  lusty  and  fat  and  lazy  and 
mean,  as  to  have  turned  their  parents  out  of  house 
and  home  to  starve  in  the  woods. 

Iron  has  been  protected  until  all  the  people  have 
become  loaded  with  chains;  stigar,  until  olir  tempers 
are  no  more  sweet;  and  glass,  until  we  cannot  see 
straight  through  it. 

Our  system  makes  millionaires  and  paupers,  and 
enough  of  both  to  keep  the  thing  in  operation,  so  that 
we  see  the  ingenuity  of  those  who  planned  it,  and  keep 
it  going ;  and  the  paupers,  the  people,  like  the  asses  of 
burden  they  are,  quicken  their  steps  at  the  crack  of 
the  whip  or  the  application  of  the  lash. 


POLITICAL.  161 


During  the  Middle  Ages,  men  were  governed  by 
appeals  to  their  religious  feelings,  submissive  as  to  the 
governments  themselves,  and  fanatic  as  to  adversaries; 
but,  at  the  present  time,  they  are  submissive  or  fa- 
natic, not  as  to  religion,  but  as  to  politics,  so  we  see 
that  men  have  remained  the  same,  having  only  changed 
their  master.  Let  me  again  illustrate  by  fable : 

An  Ass  in  battle,  slowly  plodding  along  with  his  load, 
on  being  told  to  hurry,  lest  he  be  captured  by  the  en- 
emy, replied :  "  What  difference  does  it  make  to  me 
whose  load  I  carry?" 

Men  do  not  seem  to  have  yet  arrived  at  this  con- 
clusion, because  they  exert  themselves  mightily  for 
particular  masters,  when  they  might  easily  and  quickly 
end  their  journey  in  captivity  by  the  adversary. 

O  men,  if  you  must  be  asses,  be  philosophic  asses! 

Following  the  order  of  importance,  the  army  comes 
next,  as  a  determining  factor  in  the  operation  and 
maintenance  of  the  government. 

The  army,  except  the  Rurales,  is  made  up  entirely 
of  native  Mexicans,  whose  pay,  I  was  told,  amounted 
to  17  cents  per  day,  equal  to  8£  cents  United  States 
money;  and  many  of  them,  I  was  also  told,  are  long- 
term  prisoners,  men  who  have  been  sentenced  for  some 
crime,  but  who  are  allowed  to  serve  their  term  in  the 
army. 

Their  uniform  is  modeled  after  that  of  the  United 
States  soldier's  uniform  of  dark  blue,  and  the  old  style 
cap. 

Their  duty  is  to  serve  in  the  regular  ranks  as  well  as 
to  be  the  police  of  the  country,  the  towns,  and  the  cities, 


162  MEXICO. 

those  performing  police  duty  in  the  towns  and  cities 
wearing  the  uniform  described;  but  the  Rurales,  the 
rural  police,  wear  a  gray  uniform  and  a  broadbrimmed 
hat;  and,  when  not  policing  the  trains,  are  usually 
mounted,  and  going  two  and  two,  so  that  wherever 
you  find  one,  you  will  find  another  in  the  same  vi- 
cinity. 

These  Rurales  are  the  pick  of  the  army,  as  is  said, 
being  made  up  of  the  outlaws  of  the  country,  to  whom 
amnesty  was  offered,  if  they  would  come  in  and  join 
the  army,  which  they  did,  after  having  demonstrated 
the  inability  of  the  government  or  the  people  to  ex- 
terminate them.  And  thus  we  see  the  condition  of 
Montezuma  respecting  the  Tlascalans  repeated  in 
Diaz  with  the  bandits  and  robbers. 

When  these  Rurales  came  into  possession  of  open 
power,  they,  of  course,  killed  all  those  who  opposed 
them  as  robbers.  This  should  have  been  foreseen. 

This  arrangement  of  making  the  soldier  the  police 
also  has  the  effect  of  extending  the  power  of  the  gov- 
ernment, through  the  army,  to  the  country  and  the 
whole  country,  town,  city  and  country,  making  the 
government  entirely  military,  so  that,  even  if  the  peo- 
ple did  possess  civil  rights  and  liberty  to  the  extent 
of  local  self-government,  or  to  any  other  extent,  they 
have  the  strong  arm  of  the  military  ever  present  and 
over  them. 

The  situation  is  now  fully  stated :  Mexico  is  a  mili- 
tary despotism,  the  most  absolute. 

Republic,  democracy,  commonwealth,  these  names 
count  for  nothing,  except  to  those  satisfied  with  a 
sound.  Some  of  the  most  absolute  military  despotisms 


POLITICAL.  163 


have  attempted  to  cloak  themselves  with  these  sacred 
names. 

Oliver  Cromwell,  so  far  from  establishing  a  common- 
wealth in  England,  maintained  simply  a  pure  military 
despotism;  and  the  moment  that  the  humanity  of  his 
son  .Richard  relaxed  its  severity,  and  would  neither 
countenance  nor  order  the  commission  of  murder, 
as  his  father's  conscience  always  permitted  him  to  do 
with  great  readiness,  the  scheme  went  to  pieces. 

Caesar,  under  the  guise  of  a  more  popular  form  of 
government,  maintained,  for  a  time,  a  military  des- 
potism in  Rome;  and,  likewise,  Napoleon  in  France. 

The  presence  of  militarism  everywhere  is,  also,  seen 
in  the  fact  that  President  Diaz  has  a  body-guard  of 
about  fifty  mounted  men,  whom  I  once  saw,  in  their 
fatigue  uniform,  everybody  riding  along  in  a  sort  of  a 
go-as-you-please  manner.  This  did  not  impress  the 
republicanism  of  Mexico  very  forcibly  upon  me;  but, 
before  I  had  time  to  formulate  a  judgment,  conditions 
at  home  reflected  upon  my  mind;  and,  not  only  at 
home,  but  in  Europe,  that  now  a  president  is  no  safer 
as  against  assassins  than  monarchs  have  always  been, 
showing  that  our  present-day  republics  are  drifting 
toward  monarchies  in  their  relation  to  the  people. 

I  had  watched,  with  considerable  interest,  the  work 
of  the  police  in  the  towns  and  smaller  cities,  being  much 
impressed  with  the  efficiency  of  their  work,  under 
primitive  methods,  and  altogether  astounded  at  their 
humaneness,  under  trying  circumstances,  in  view  of 
what  I  had  always  been  accustomed  to  in  the  United 
States;  but,  when  I  arrived  at  the  City  of  Mexico,  I 
was  agreeably  surprised  as  well  as  forcibly  reminded 


164  MEXICO. 

of  what  I  had  read  about  the  facility  of  the  Aztecs  to 
sound  alarms  or  disseminate  information,  by  seeing 
the  police  stand  in  the  center  of  the  intersection  of  the 
streets,  with  a  lantern  at  night,  so  that,  by  signaling  to 
one  another,  they  can  spread  an  alarm  over  the  entire 
police  district  in  a  few  seconds.  This  looks  primitive, 
but  no  system  of  electric  signaling  could  equal  it  as  to 
time,  efficiency  and  ease. 

With  the  government  established,  with  money  to 
run  it,  with  soldiers  to  guard  it,  the  least  element  is  the 
law,  and  this  now  occupies  attention.  I  will  begin 
with  the  profession  of  the  law  and  the  lawyer;  then 
statutory  law;  then  unwritten  law;  then  constitu- 
tional law;  thus  following  an  order  neither  historic 
nor  philosophic,  but,  perhaps,  suited  to  the  case  under 
consideration,  which  is  Mexican. 

Contrary  to  the  general  rule,  lawyers  are  very  scarce 
in  Mexico;  and  all,  with  but  two  exceptions, — one  a 
native  Mexican  and  the  other  a  Frenchman, — were 
Spanish-Mexicans,  whom  I  found  to  be  very  clever 
gentlemen;  and  I  would  not  want  to  think  that  they 
were  like  their  Spanish  brothers,  described  by  Wash- 
ington Irving. 

The  lawyer,  like  the  doctor  and  the  priest,  must  stand 
a  great  deal  of  abuse,  which  is  often  a  well-merited  con- 
demnation ;  but  he,  like  the  doctor,  when  you  are  sick, 
and  the  priests,  when  you  commence  to  fear  God,  has 
his  use,  when  he,  like  they,  is  trusted  implicitly,  as 
furnishing  the  only  way  of  it. 

When  we  are  not  sued  in  the  law ;  when  we  are  not 
sick ;  and  when  we  are  not  in  danger  of  death,  we  need 
not  lawyer  or  doctor  or  priest;  but,  let  conditions 


POLITICAL.  165 


change,  and  see  how  quickly  we  call  on  all  three,  di- 
vulging our  innermost  secrets,  reposing  our  utmost 
confidence,  and  indulging  our  expectations  with  im- 
plicit faith,  looking  not  ultimately  to  justice,  to  health, 
or  to  God,  but  to  our  intermediary  as  our  means  to  the 
end;  and,  not  until  all  hope  in  acquiring  success, 
health  or  heaven  has  vanished,  do  we  abandon  all 
three. 

In  England  and  in  the  United ,  States,  where  the 
common  law,  technically  so  called,  is  in  force,  legal 
volumes  are  reckoned  by  the  carload,  so  that  no  in- 
dividual lawyer  can  now  hope  to  possess  anything  but 
the  most  insignificant  portion  of  them ;  and,  strange  to 
think,  all  these  books  contain  law,  or,  at  least,  what 
was  a  reality,  and,  sometimes,  a  terrible  reality,  to 
litigants  who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  get  into  court. 

In  viewing  a  great  law  library,  such  as  we  now  find 
at  the  capitals  of  the  States,  State  libraries,  I  have 
recalled  the  saying  of  Socrates,  as  he  passed  through 
the  market,  "How  much  I  see  here  that  I  do  not 
want!"  and,  I  have  added,  that  I  do  not  know;  but 
to  which  I  might  well  add  the  consolation,  that  I  do 
not  need  to  know,  and  which  I  might  justly  despise! 

Those  of  us  who  were  cut  out  to  be  the  preacher  of 
the  family,  will  recall  how,  when  we  first  became  recon- 
ciled to  the  fact,  we  started  in  to  read  all  the  books  in 
the  house,  commencing  at  one  corner  of  the  family 
library,  and  proceeding  regularly,  as  we  would  turn 
over  a  book,  to  the  end,  without  reference  to  what  book 
or  what  subject  came  first;  and  some  of  us  actually 
completed  the  task;  and  I  am  also  afraid  some  of  us 
never  afterward  attained  that  degree  of  wisdom  to 


166  MEXICO. 

know  not  to  proceed  in  after  years  upon  the  same 
method. 

When  I  commenced  to  read  the  law,  I  got  the  kind 
advice  of  an  eminent  gentleman,  learned  therein,  who 
gave  me  a  list  of  seven  works,  the  reading  of  which  he 
said  would  be  sufficient  to  admit  me  to  the  bar.  They 
were  Blackstone,  Kent,  Greenleaf,  Parsons,  a  local 
work  on  Pleading  and  Practice,  and  I  have  forgotten 
the  other  two,  although  I  have  still  the  list  he  gave  me 
somewhere  in  my  possession,  but  will  not  stop  to  hunt 
it. 

Comparing  these  works  with  the  size  of  a  law  li- 
brary, I  confess  I  was  much  astonished  to  find  that  so 
little  was  required  to  become  a  lawyer,  and,  at  the  time, 
then  and  there,  and  without  delay,  immediately,  and 
on  the  spot,  forming  the  resolution,  in  full  legal  phrase- 
ology, that  I  would  read  it  all. 

Stripped  to  the  waist,  with  hat  in  hand,  I  started  off; 
the  wind  soon  fanned  my  hair  on  end ;  my  feet  touched 
the  ground  but  lightly  at  long  intervals;  and,  as  I 
neared  the  goal,  I  threw  myself  forward,  falling  and 
tearing  up  the  ground,  my  finger  just  touching  the 
mark.  I  had  got  there,  but  I  had  experienced  a  terri- 
ble fall.  Not,  however,  satisfied,  I  picked  myself  up, 
spit  the  dirt  out  of  my  mouth,  knocked  the  dust  from 
my  clothes,  and  ran  the  course  over  again,  this  time  with 
less  ardor,  and  without  accident ;  and  again  and  again 
did  I  repeat  this  performance  until  it  became  such  a 
matter  of  form  that  I  was  able  to  cover  the  course, 
even  though  half-asleep,  and  paying  no  attention  to 
where  I  was  going.  I  kept  this  up  until  I  had  read 
forty-two  legal  works,  a  list  of  which  I  also  have,  in- 
stead of  the  seven  recommended  to  me, — just  six  times 


POLITICAL.  167 


the  legal  requirement.  I  was  then  admitted,  but  did 
not  cease  reading,  although  I  quit  keeping  any  account 
of  what  I  read ;  and  it  was  not  until  several  years  later, 
that  I  awoke  to  the  fact  that,  all  the  while,  I  had  been 
devouring  straw,  common  straw,  which  I  hope  my 
readers  will  not  change  to  read  common  law. 

If  anybody  still  has  unlimited  admiration  for  that 
grand  heritage  called  the  common  law,  or  profound  re- 
spect for  the  text-writers  who  have  so  much  extolled 
it,  I  would  like  to  refer  him  to  the  editions  of  Black- 
stone,  before  the  American  Revolution,  where  he  will 
find  the  author  swelling  with  pride  that  the  institution 
of  the  common  law  is  a  heritage  of  every  Englishman, 
not  only  shining  like  a  halo  around  him  at  home,  but 
following  him,  like  a  guardian  angel,  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  ever  ready  to  protect  him.  This  is  not  the 
language  used,  as  I  am  writing  from  memory,  but  it  is 
a  faithful  reproduction  of  the  idea,  the  law,  as  at  that 
time  enunciated  by  this  greatest  of  all  legal  text- 
writers. 

The  American  Revolution  came  on;  the  common 
law  had  not  changed;  the  American  colonies  claimed 
their  heritage,  the  common  law;  England  allowed 
them  still  the  boast,  but  denied  them  the  benefit;  a 
new  edition  of  Blackstone  was  issued,  changing  this 
text  to  read  that  the  common  law  had  never  extended 
to  the  American  colonies,  although  no  judicial  opinions 
to  that  effect  had  been  rendered  in  the  English  courts, 
nor  had  parliament  enacted  any  statute  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

Although  I  read  Coke,  I  must  confess  I  can  now  re- 
call but  one  single  thing  contained  in  his  works,  and 
that  is  that  the  common  law  was  wiser  than  any  one 


168  MEXICO. 

man,  as  it  was  the  combined  wisdom  of  many  men 
learned  in  the  law,  living  at  different  periods  of  time. 

This  sounds  very  nice,  but  cannot  we  all,  without  any 
trouble,  recall  many  things,  sanctioned  by  usage,  time 
and  greatness,  which  are  yet  evils,  positive  evils,  in 
our  midst? 

In  the  light  of  what  has  been  said,  what  respect 
should  we  have  for  Blackstone?  The  answer  is  not 
very  important,  as  the  occasion  for  his  change  of  text 
is  now  a  closed  incident ;  but  the  point,  the  philosophy 
of  the  thing,  important  at  all  times,  is,  that  interest 
makes  the  law. 

Not  to  pursue  this  matter  too  far,  yet  I  want  to  say 
that  all  the  American  editions  of  Blackstone,  which  I 
have  examined,  give  the  post-Revolutionary  version 
of  the  text,  without  any  comment  as  to  the  change. 

Mexico  takes  her  heritage  of  the  law  from  Spain, 
coming  to  Spain  from  Rome,  so  that  the  principles  of 
the  civil  law  obtain.  The  civil  law  once  prevailed,  and 
still  is  not  without  its  influence  in  all  the  countries 
conquered  or  dominated  by  the  Roman  Empire;  and 
the  greatest  boast  of  Rome,  at  one  time,  was  that  she 
gave  laws  to  the  world,  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  would 
have  to  be  received  with  considerable  modification. 

What  the  civil  law  was  in  the  days  of  Roman  do- 
minion would  require  a  volume  to  exhibit;  but  the 
point  of  interest  now  is  only  its  status  or  influence  in 
Mexico ;  and  I  will  content  myself  by  relating  the  facts 
only,  as  I  found  them  in  Mexico,  without  any  attempt 
at  the  philosophy  of  the  case,  where  my  opinions  would 
have  no  weight,  even  with  those  who  do  not  know  any- 


POLITICAL.  169 


thing  about  it,  but  who  are  always  the  hardest  to  con- 
vince. 

A  lawyer,  in  Mexico,  can  open  shop  with  but  one 
book,  the  book  of  statutes  or  enacted  law.  No  text- 
books, no  reports,  no  digests,  no  encyclopedias,  world 
without  end,  here;  and  not  even  the  decisions  of  the 
supreme  court  .of  the  nation  are  printed  for  the  infor- 
mation of  the  legal  profession  or  the  public.  No  prec- 
edent has  been  established,  or  exists  in  any  matter. 
This  is  certainly  a  place  where  "The  law  is  the  law." 

A  lawsuit  must,  necessarily,  still  be  a  lawsuit  under 
this  as  well  as  under  any  other  system.  The  com- 
plaint of  the  injured  or  aggrieved  person  is  stated  to  a 
court,  the  evidence  is  heard,  the  lawyers  argue,  and 
the  court  decides.  Every  case  is  tried  on  its  own 
merits,  without  precedent;  and,  if  the  decision  is 
within  any  statute,  that,  of  course,  is  applied ;  but,  if 
within  the  realm  of  all  those  rights  and  liabilities  em- 
braced, with  us,  under  the  term  common  law,  but 
civil  law  here,  the  case  must  be  decided  on  the  individ- 
ual requirements  of  justice.  If,  now,  learning  and 
philosophy  fortify  a  judicial  mind,  the  result  must  be  as 
satisfactory  as  if  founded  on  precedent,  and  not  the 
sense  of  the  judge. 

I  am  inclined  to  favor  the  civil-law  rather  than  the 
common-law  methods,  granting,  of  course,  that  the 
ends  of  both  are  right  and  justice. 

In  arriving  at  a  decision  of  a  case  under  the  common 
law,  all  personal  responsibility  on  the  part  of  the  judge 
may  be,  and,  as  decisions  now  go,  usually  is,  avoided 
by  deciding  a  case  on  precedent,  which  is  often  but  a 
perpetuation  of  error;  but,  as  the  people  only  view  a 
case  from  the  standpoint  of  right  and  wrong,  they  ap- 


170  MEXICO. 

ply  these  words  to  designate  the  result  of  a  legal  pro- 
ceeding. 

Under  the  civil  law,  the  reason  and  the  philosophy 
of  the  case  must  be  gone  into,  and  the  decision  rendered 
in  harmony  with  its  justice,  which  casts  upon  the  judge 
a  personal  responsibility. 

The  difference  in  the  judicial  mind  engendered  by 
the  two  methods  needs  only  be  hinted  at;  and  the 
lawyer  must  have  principles  in  his  head,  instead  of 
books  in  his  hand. 

The  Virgin  of  Guadalupe,  blindfolded,  with  the  bal- 
ance in  her  hand,  is  the  Goddess  of  Justice  in  Mexico ; 
and,  in  this  attire,  you  will  find  her  as  a  frontispiece 
in  the  statutebook,  which  carries  one's  mind  back  to 
her  office  as  the  Egyptian  Isis. 

The  civil  law  is  a  completed  philosophic  system, 
having  passed  through  its  age  of  faith  and  its  age  of 
experiment,  and  is  now  in  the  full  vigor  of  its  age  of 
reason,  beyond  which,  in  this  world,  only  the  age  of 
fact  remains,  which  would  seem  to  preclude  the  idea 
of  law. 

The  common  law  has  passed  its  age  of  faith,  and  is 
now  wavering  between  its  age  of  experiment  and  its 
age  of  reason,  in  that  transition  state,  where  all  things 
are  uncertain,  and  where  the  greatest  danger  is  always 
fraught,  in  the  lives  of  systems  as  well  as  of  individ- 
uals. 

A  like  condition  is  seen  in  the  moral  world.  The 
system  of  Confucius  is  fixed  and  coextensive  with  hu- 
man nature;  and  all  others,  whether  called  social, 
religious  or  metaphysical,  are  but  chaos,  and  must  come 
to  extinction,  whereas  the  system  of  Confucius,  hav- 
ing to  do  only  with  human  rights  and  duties,  will  last 


POLITICAL.  171 


as  long  as  human  rights  and  duties  concern  the  race. 
Gods  change,  and  are  exchanged;  but  human  rights 
and  duties  remain  the  same. 

While  the  United  States  has  immensely  too  much 
written  law,  and  too  many  common-law  decisions  in 
our  books,  yet  I  think  Mexico  is  a  little  short ;  not  that 
I  would  increase  the  number  of  her  enactments;  but 
I  would  add  to  the  lawyers'  libraries  the  works  of  the 
great  philosophers  and  historians;  and  I  would,  in 
this  manner,  inculcate  the  principles  of  human  rights 
and  duties. 

Nowhere,  except  in  the  Thieves'  Market,  did  I  see 
any  legal  works,  except  the  book  of  statutes,  and  these 
were  but  a  few  American  and  English  text-books  on 
the  elementary  subjects,  so  that  the  little  common 
law  which  has  found  its  way  into  Mexico  has  fallen 
among  thieves. 

The  constitution  of  Mexico,  in  its  form  and  pro- 
visions, is  much  like  that  of  the  United  States;  but, 
in  its  practical  operation,  has  no  place  in  the  affairs 
of  the  government ;  and  this  is  my  reason  for  consider- 
ing it  at  the  end,  or  as  the  last  element  in  the  law. 
Some  of  the  facetious  may  here  find  an  example,  also, 
in  the  use  to  which  the  Bible  is  put  in  some  of  the 
churches  to  which  their  neighbors  belong,  while  they 
themselves,  of  course,  believe  it  all,  and  obey  it  all. 

Inasmuch  as  the  constitution  of  Mexico  bears  no 
relation  to  the  government,  a  review  of  its  provisions 
would  only  lead  to  a  misconception  of  the  state  of 
affairs  as  they  actually  exist,  but  would,  also,  be  against 
the  plan  I  announced,  of  only  stating  what  may  be 


172  MEXICO. 

seen  upon  the  surface,  or  as  the  actual  result  of  gov- 
ernmental operations. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  must  now  be 
briefly  noticed  as  to  its  composition. 

Even  a  casual  reading  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  discloses  the  fact  that  it  was  framed, 
not  on  the  principle  of  equality,  nor  that  the  people 
should  govern,  but  on  the  proposition  of  monarchy, 
that  the  government  was  one  thing,  and  the  people 
another,  with  antagonistic  interests,  and  diverse  pro- 
pensities; that  the  tendency  of  the  government  would 
always  be  toward  wisdom  and  justice,  while  that  of 
the  people  would  be  towards  disruption;  that,  in  the 
system  of  fines  and  punishments,  the  principles  of 
aristocracy  are  incorporated;  but  the  right  to  vote  is 
reserved  to  the  people,  thus  forming  a  government 
made  up  of  the  leading  principles  of  monarchy,  aris- 
tocracy and  democracy,  moulded  and  given  to  the  peo- 
ple under  the  name  of  republic,  in  which  rights,  im- 
munities and  burdens  are  the  correspondences  of  the 
three  component  parts  of  the  government,  where  no 
one  has  any  difficulty  to  find  his  place,  with  a  facility 
not  to  be  excelled  in  the  clear-cut  distinctions  of  caste 
in  hereditary  kingdoms. 

Having  thus  stated  the  general  composite  character 
of  our  constitution,  I  will  only  add  that,  in  its  practical 
operation,  while  adhered  to,  in  most  instances,  in  form, 
at  least,  yet  falls  very  far  short  of  expressing  the  will 
of  the  people,  as  party  domination  is  everywhere  pres- 
ent ;  and,  as  I  can  no  more  review  its  provisions  than 
I  could  do  so  with  those  of  the  Mexican  constitution, 
I  will  pass  on  to  a  mention  of  the  proposed  constitu- 
tion for  the  new  State  of  Oklahoma,  which  will  doubt- 


POLITICAL.  173 


less  be  the  supreme  law  of  that  State,  now  Territory, 
before  these  words  get  into  print. 

I  have  read  this  much-praised  and  much-abused 
constitution  of  Oklahoma,  and  I  confess  I  am  much 
taken  with  it,  because  it  furnishes  a  form  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  republican  government,  the  first,  so 
far  as  I  know,  to  be  established  in  the  New  World, 
a  government  where  the  people  may  rule,  which  can- 
not be  said  of  any  other  state  or  of  the  national  con- 
stitution ;  a  government  where  the  people  may  express 
their  will  in  the  enactment  of  law  as  well  as  in  the  re- 
jection of  that  sought  to  be  imposed  upon  them  by 
their  representatives,  if  objectionable;  a  constitution 
where  the  people  may  say  who  their  officers  shall  be, 
and  that  they  shall  know  their  responsibilities;  a 
constitution  under  which  the  individual  and  the  faction 
can  never  predominate  to  the  detriment  of  the  people ; 
a  salutary  constitution. 

The  tremendous  opposition  to  this  constitution,  by 
individuals,  interests  and  factions,  where  it  alone  finds 
enemies,  is  the  greatest  argument  that  it  is  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people ;  and  its  great  length  has  been  stated 
as  a  chief  objection  to  it;  but,  if  the  details  it  contains 
are  good  law,  they  are  none  the  worse  for  being  enacted 
in  the  constitution,  where  they  will  be  taken  from  the 
field  of  legislative  contention. 

As  to  the  provisions  of  the  constitutions  of  the  vari- 
ous states  of  Mexico,  or,  indeed,  whether  or  not  they 
have  any  at  all,  never  occurred  to  me,  until  I  reached 
that  part  of  my  account;  but,  so  far  as  the  operation 
of  the  state  governments  is  concerned,  they  are  non- 
existent. 


174  MEXICO. 

As  the  election  of  a  president  to  succeed  Diaz  will 
be  the  beginning  of  the  future  trouble  in  Mexico ;  and, 
as  that  event  is  an  ever-increasing  anxiety  with  us,  I 
will  here  review  our  own  presidential  elections,  after 
first  briefly  mentioning  those  of  Mexico. 

While  I  have  not  been  able  to  verify  the  fact  as  fully 
as  I  desired,  yet  I  feel  safe  in  saying,  that  Mexico  never 
did  hold  a  presidential  election  under  the  constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  country. 

Passing  over  that  period  of  turbulence,  quite  akin 
to  anarchy,  from  1821  to  1867,  a  review  of  which  would 
belong  only  to  a  history  of  Mexico,  when  General  Diaz, 
at  the  head  of  his  army,  entered  the  City  of  Mexico, 
which  event  marked  the  beginning  of  peace  and  a 
stable  government,  and  during  which  period,  I  would  be 
justified,  from  the  very  nature  of  human  affairs,  if  no 
history  existed,  and  even  if  written  records  were  to  the 
contrary,  in  asserting  that  the  choice  of  the  president 
was  accompanied  with  the  usual  crises  in  affairs,  if, 
indeed,  it  was  not  one,  and  that  the  chief  cause,  of 
political  strife,  rebellions,  and  revolutions. 

After  General  Diaz  had  acted  so  great  and  patriotic 
a  part  in  ridding  Mexico  of  Maximilian  and  all  he  stood 
for,  like  many  great  military  leaders,  Washington  alone 
excepted,  he  conceived  an  ambition  for  his  own  ag- 
grandizement, which,  in  monarchies,  has  always  con- 
templated the  establishment  and  perpetuation  of  a  new 
dynasty,  house,  or  ruling  family;  but,  in  republics, 
only  personal  and  immediate  advantages,  measured 
by  position  and  money,  are  sought. 

Juarez  was  then  president;  but,  at  the  next  general 
election,  Diaz  was  a  candidate,  and  resented  his  defeat 
by  a  rebellion,  which,  however,  assumed  so  much  of 


POLITICAL.  175 


the  character  of  a  revolution  as  to  place  its  leader  at 
the  head  of  the  Mexican  army  as  commander-in-chief, 
thus  putting  in  his  hands  the  very  engine  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  his  designs;  and,  in  1876,  General 
Diaz  again  entered  the  City  of  Mexico,  not  as  a  patriot, 
driving  a  usurper  from  the  land,  but  as  a  revolutionist. 
He  was  declared,  as  the  accounts  I  have  examined  say, 
without  stating  by  whom,  or  by  what  authority,  first, 
president,  then,  constitutional  president,  holding  the 
office  until  the  next  election,  when  General  Manuel 
Gonzales  was  elected,  at  the  expiration  of  whose  term 
in  1884,  Diaz  was  again  elected,  and  has  held  the  office 
up  to  the  present  time,  1907,  and  will  doubtless  con- 
tinue for  life. 

The  presidential  term,  in  Mexico,  was  first  four  years, 
but  recently  changed  to  eight  years  at  the  request  of 
Diaz. 

With  that  degree  of  certainty  called  calculation,  I 
feel  justified  in  asserting,  that  the  successor  of  Diaz 
will  be,  by  a  majority  only,  declared  president  in  the 
same  manner  as  Diaz  himself  is  made  to  succeed  him- 
self, without  effort  or  intermission;  but  the  period  of 
this  successor  will  be  brief,  and  the  future  only  knows 
the  rest. 

A  part  of  what  I  have  just  said  has  also  been  stated 
in  the  sketch  of  President  Diaz,  but  could  not  be  omit- 
ted in  referring  to  the  election  of  the  president. 

The  election  of  a  chief  magistrate  of  a  country,  under 
any  form  of  government,  always  creates  a  political 
crisis,  as  the  least  expression  of  unrest,  and  revolution 
may  be  given  as  the  other  extreme,  with  all  gradations 
between;  and,  as  this  event  is  one  of  increasing  im- 


176  MEXICO. 

portance  in  the  United  States,  I  will  dwell  upon  it  at 
some  length. 

Washington,  as  an  individual,  and  not  the  represent- 
ative of  any  political  faith,  was  unanimously  chosen 
first  President  of  the  United  States. 

He  was,  also,  unanimously  chosen  for  a  second  term, 
but  the  inevitable  had  happened,  and  around  him  and 
his  principles  a  political  party  had  been  formed;  and, 
this  time,  he  was  chosen  as  a  Federalist ;  and,  although 
during  his  second  term,  he  did  not  always  have  a  party 
majority  in  Congress  to  support  his  federalistic  doc- 
trines, yet  his  political  opponents,  with  a  patriotism, 
perhaps,  never  before,  and  certainly  never  since, 
equaled,  supported  his  measures. 

The  opposing  party,  however,  was  all  the  while 
gathering  strength  which  it  intended  to  use,  and  did 
use,  at  the  election  of  John  Adams,  as  successor  to 
Washington,  polling  the  second  highest  vote,  thus 
naming  Thomas  Jefferson,  its  acknowledged  leader, 
as  the  vice-president,  that  being  the  provision  of  the 
constitution  at  that  time. 

So  great  was  the  opposition  to  the  Federal  party, 
that  the  completing  of  the  term  of  President  Adams 
marked  not  only  its  defeat  but  its  extinction,  also. 

Jefferson  now  succeeded  for  two  terms,  and  the  anti- 
Federal  party,  under  the  name  of  Republican,  contin- 
ued in  power  to  the  election  of  General  Jackson. 

During  this  term  of  nearly  forty  years  of  Federal  and 
anti-Federal  administrations,  the  extreme  of  the  doc- 
trines represented  by  Washington  and  Jefferson  re- 
spectively met  in  a  happy  compromise  in  the  minds 
of  the  people,  an  exceedingly  great  fortune,  the  more 
appreciable  because  so  seldom  resulting  from  such 


POLITICAL.  177 


determined  political  oppositions,  so  that  the  political 
status  now  obtaining  is  a  compound  of  the  principles  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson;  but  so  profound  and  last- 
ing have  been  the  principles  of  Jefferson,  that  they 
have  ever  since  been  the  slogan  of  one  or  other  of  the 
political  parties  in  the  government,  while  the  principles 
of  Washington  have  never  been  bodily  adopted  or 
actively  advocated  by  any  of  the  political  parties  seek- 
ing control.  Washington  and  his  great  principles 
have  alike  crystallized  in  history,  and  those  principles 
were  then  as  right  as  their  author  is  great,  while  those 
of  Jefferson,  suited  for  all  time,  have  become  a  per- 
petual heritage. 

The  interest  manifest  in  the  election  of  a  President 
following  Jefferson  became  less  intense  until  the  elec- 
tion of  General  Jackson,  whose  reputation  depended 
chiefly  upon  his  success  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
after  peace  had  been  declared,  where  the  British  army, 
under  incompetent  commanders,  presented  itself  in 
solid  phalanges,  to  be  slaughtered  by  the  Americans, 
strongly  entrenched  behind  bales  of  cotton,  protected 
by  a  ditch;  and  twice  did  they  present  themselves 
to  be  mowed  down  without  mercy  by  the  deadly  fire 
of  the  Americans,  without  being  able  to  inflict  any 
injury  upon  their  antagonists. 

Great  must  have  been  the  vulgarity  of  the  times 
after  such  a  slaughter,  to  have  called  General  Jackson 
a  pork-packer,  because  he  fought  with  Packenham. 
The  punster  here  finds  a  just  comparison  with  the  can- 
nibal. 

The  next  exciting  presidential  campaign  was  that 
which  resulted  in  the  election  of  General  Harrison, 
the  most  enthusiastic  ever  occurring  in  our  history,  an 


178  MEXICO. 

enthusiasm  bordering  on  levity,  and,  almost,  license; 
but  without  the  bitter  feeling  and  intense  personal 
animosities  which  so  disgrace  subsequent  campaigns. 
By  one  of  those  strange  coincidences,  so  often,  in  his- 
tory, mistaken  for  causes,  Harrison's  chief  celebrity 
consisted,  as  Jackson's  had,  in  having  fought  an  in- 
significant battle,  this  time  even  with  savages. 

Following  Harrison,  we  again  come  to  a  time,  when 
men's  minds,  on  political  questions,  seem  to  have 
assumed  sanity,  until  we  reach  the  great  and  incompa- 
rable events  preceding  as  well  as  following  the  election 
of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  close  of  the  terms  of  Lincoln  brings  me  to  the 
time  when  I  have  a  definite  recollection  of  events; 
but  I  want  to  give  assurance  that  I  will  be  brief,  and 
attempt  no  connected  history,  only  referring  to  those 
great  facts  calculated  to  support  the  conclusion  I 
expect  to  draw. 

I  wish,  however,  to  state,  that  I  believe  the  proper 
way  to  write  history  is  by  subjects,  and  that  a  history 
of  the  United  States,  by  that  method,  giving  the  elec- 
tion of  the  presidents  connectedly,  and  so  with  all 
other  subjects,  while,  like  this  book,  would  require 
considerable  repetition,  would  yet  place  the  matter 
before  the  mind  so  that  it  could  be  best  remembered 
and  appreciated,  and  thus  history  would  cease  to  be  a 
conglomeration  of  events.  I  promise,  some  day,  to 
write  such  a  history;  but  if  anyone  seize  upon  my 
design,  and  anticipate  me,  he  will  do  me  a  great  favor, 
if  he  do  his  work  well,  as  he  will  save  me  much  labor 
in  collecting  and  arranging  the  material.  History, 
in  its  very  nature,  is  such,  that  after  ten  thousand 


POLITICAL.  179 


works  have  been  written,  the  best  may  still  be  pro- 
duced. 

I  must,  also,  observe,  before  coming  to  the  days  of 
my  recollection,  that  the  difference  between  the  prin- 
ciples of  Washington  and  of  Jefferson  was  due  entirely 
to  the  profession  of  arms  of  the  one,  and  of  the  forum 
of  the  other;  and  that  we  today  attach  too  much 
importance  to  their  individuality,  as  determining  their 
doctrines. 

Washington,  a  soldier  under  primitive  conditions, 
fell,  without  effort,  into  the  habit  of  absolute  command ; 
while  Jefferson,  a  statesman  among  oppressed  and 
suffering  people,  unconsciously  imbibed  a  sympathy 
for  their  condition.  Both  were  needed  in  their  own 
peculiar  provinces;  and  subsequent  events  brought, 
to  a  happy  concurrence  and  consolidation,  in  the  gov- 
ernment, those  principles,  once  so  apparently  antago- 
nistic, and  the  new  order  of  things  thus  assumed  a 
direction  as  the  compound  result  of  these  opposing 
forces. 

Now,  for  the  time  of  my  recollection;  and  I  will 
confine  myself  to  stating  points  of  objection  on  which 
controversies  occurred,  having  special  reference  to  the 
turbulency  and  dangers  accompanying  the  presidential 
elections. 

The  first  and  second  elections  of  Grant  would  have 
come  to  any  party  nominating  him,  however  much  it 
might  have  differed  from  him  in  political  creed  or  gov- 
ernmental policy;  and,  therefore,  the  Democratic 
party,  by  the  shortsightedness  of  its  leaders  and  the 
tardiness  of  their  action,  allowed  the  Republican 
party  to  steal  its  candidate,  a  candidate  inevitable  of 
election,  and  anxious  for  adoption. 


180  MEXICO. 

Such  is  politics,  and  such  the  methods  of  politicians ; 
but  I  have  no  serious  objections  to  the  man,  since  he 
proved  as  able  a  president  as  he  had  been  a  general, 
until  I  reach  his  third-term  aspirations,  and  then  I 
object,  and  I  object  loudly ;  I  object  to  the  principle, 
as  subversive  of  the  tradition  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson,  and  the  unwritten  law  coming  down  to  us 
with  the  approval  of  other  great  names;  I  object  to 
the  policy,  as  in  conflict  with  the  sense  of  respect 
which  we  derive  from  adherence  to  the  conduct  of 
the  great;  I  object  to  the  methods,  as  subversive  of 
our  individuality;  I  object  to  the  deed,  as  of  one 
who  has  lost  sight  of  the  people,  and  seeks  only  his 
own  aggrandizement;  I  object  to  the  persistency,  as 
egotistic ;  I  object  now  to  the  man,  as  a  schemer;  and 
I  object  to  the  whole  performance,  as  a  design  against 
the  form  of  our  government  and  the  rights  and  pre- 
rogatives of  the  people ;  and  I  assert  that  wealth  and 
power  are  now  corruptly  sought  at  the  expense  of  that 
Nation  he  was  once  so  anxious  to  serve. 

Without  my  suggestions,  the  reader  will  readily 
catalogue  examples  where  men  of  poor  and  small  es- 
tate satisfied  their  first  ambition  in  the  service  of  their 
country,  but  whose  last  ambition  aimed  at  the  state. 

Then  came  President  Hayes,  of  unknown  fame,  who 
ended  his  life  as  obscurely  as  he  had  begun  and  lived 
it,  in  raising  chickens,  an  honest  calling,  so  that  even 
politicians  may  sometimes  have  a  happy  consumma- 
tion. 

On  account  of  the  closeness  of  the  vote  and  disputed 
returns,  given  as  the  excuse,  in  the  election  of  Hayes, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  violated  in 
the  choice  of  a  president,  which  was  referred  to  a  com- 


POLITICAL.  181 


mittee  of  fifteen,  consisting  of  eight  Republicans  and 
seven  Democrats,  and  these,  disregarding  every  prin- 
ciple, except  that  of  party  affiliation,  voted  accordingly. 

Thus  ended,  by  intrigue,  which  better  satisfies  men's 
minds  than  fairness,  the  greatest  political  controversy 
growing  out  of  the  election  of  any  president,  except 
Lincoln. 

Some  appropriateness  often  seems  to  accompany 
events,  and  Hayes  is  succeeded  by  Garfield,  a  compro- 
mise candidate,  also,  from  the  same  State,  of  equal 
obscurity,  but  questionable  honesty,  forgotten,  how- 
ever, in  sorrow  for  his  long  suffering  and  death  at  the 
hands  of  an  assassin. 

Arthur,  not  being  elected  president,  but  succeeding, 
as  vice-president,  on  the  death  of  Garfield,  does  not 
count  in  this  scheme. 

Cleveland,  with  no  other  recommendation  than  that 
he  could  probably  carry  New  York,  and  with  no  other 
reputation  than  that  of  a  State  politician,  succeeded. 

Benjamin  Harrison  follows,  elected  entirely  on  the 
reputation  of  his  grandfather,  who  had  also  served  the 
brief  period  of  one  month  as  President  of  the  United 
States. 

Cleveland  now  appears  for  a  second  term,  because  the 
Democratic  party  needed  a  Moses;  but,  this  time,  he 
did  not  lead  the  Children  of  Israel,  but  betook  himself 
to  the  hosts  of  Pharaoh. 

Then  appears  McKinley,  upon  whose  name  there  is 
no  stain,  twice  elected,  whose  tragic  death  has  endeared 
his  name  to  the  memory  of  the  people. 

The  second  election  of  McKinley,  however,  needs 
special  mention,  by  reason  of  the  acts  of  the  minority 
in  Congress,  which  endeavored  to  precipitate  the  war 


182  MEXICO. 

with  Spain  before  the  country  was  ready  to  prosecute 
it,  in  order  to  embarrass  the  President;  and,  after 
they  had  secured  the  declaration  of  war,  then  used 
every  means  to  obstruct  its  prosecution,  and  bring  it 
to  a  disgraceful  end, — all  for  party  politics. 

If  anyone  believes  the  country  safe  in  the  hands  of 
party  politicians,  let  him  believe  it  in  the  light  of  this 
fact,  if  he  can ;  and  I  assure  him  of  my  sympathy  for 
his  condition  besides. 

Roosevelt  last  and  now;  but,  as  he  was  placed  on 
the  ticket  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  New  York,  he 
must  be  considered  as  active  in  the  campaign  resulting 
in  the  second  election  of  McKinley,  and  also  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  candidate  at  the  next  succeeding  election. 
v$As  everybody  has  an  opinion  of  his  own  about 
Roosevelt,  I  can,  therefore,  add  nothing. 

The  kind  of  money  we  should  have  was  the  great 
public  contention  in  the  campaign  resulting  in  Mc- 
Kinley's  first  election,  which  principle  was  as  well 
understood  by  the  farmers  as  by  the  financiers  and 
economists,  as  illustrated  by  the  farmer  who  came  to 
the  railway  station  at  Elmont,  Kansas,  while  the  Dem- 
ocratic convention  was  sitting,  and  asked  the  tele- 
graph operator  what  the  convention  had  done,  where- 
upon he  was  told  that  Bryan  had  been  nominated, 
at  which  the  farmer  asked,  "  Does  that  mean  that  we 
will  now  have  free  silver?"  The  operator  replied,  "I 
guess  so."  The  farmer  then  asked,  "Will  we  have  to 
come  into  town  for  it,  or  will  they  bring  it  out  to  us?" 

By  the  time  of  McKinley's- second  election,  these 
monetary  hallucinations  had  almost  disappeared  from 
the  troubled  brain  of  the  afflicted;  and  had  been 
thought  to  have  been  dead,  or,  at  least,  inert,  until  the 


POLITICAL.  183 


campaign  of  Roosevelt,  when,  just  as  the  earth  had 
been  closed  over  them,  a  deep  sepulchral  groan  issued 
from  the  grave  of  their  forgetfulness ;  and,  like  Samuel, 
called  again  to  earth  by  a  familiar  spirit,  disgustingly 
asked  why  their  rest  had  been  disturbed. 

In  this  outline,  I  have  done  little,  except  call  names, 
which  must  stand  for  events,  as  a  review  of  the  matters 
in  controversy,  some  of  them  the  most  trivial  and  silly, 
would  require  entirely  too  much  time  and  space,  and 
carry  me  too  far  out  of  my  course. 

Now,  as  to  the  losses,  disasters  and  dangers  growing 
out  of  presidential  elections  in  the  United  States. 
Agitation  in  general  business  conditions  of  the  country 
come  first,  then  depression,  then  cessation ;  and,  when 
the  contest  becomes  heated,  everything  is  at  stand- 
still immediately  preceding  the  election,  awaiting  the 
result;  farmers  think,  as  the  result  may  be  one  way 
or  the  other,  that  the  prices  of  their  products  will  be- 
come ruinous,  and  they  quit  work,  spending  their  time 
in  town  talking  politics  with  men  of  less  intelligence 
and  information;  manufacturers  retrench,  take  no 
more  orders,  and  some  shut  down  as  a  warning  to  the 
public,  in  general,  and  their  employes,  in  particular,  of 
the  result,  should  the  election  be  the  cause  of  institut- 
ing a  policy  not  in  harmony  with  their  ideas,  or,  what 
is  worse  to  them,  would  likely  deprive  them  of  an  unfair 
advantage,  now  enjoyed  under  a  system  giving  them 
special  privileges  and  protection;  railroad  companies, 
heretofore  least  of  all  affected  by  changes  in  govern- 
mental policies,  have  been  the  greatest  campaigners, 
through  their  attorneys,  who  handle  this  part  of  the 
business  as  their  own  personal  schemes,  to  the  very 
great  detriment  of  the  properties,  and  the  discredit  of 


184  MEXICO. 

the  roads;  and  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  the  rail- 
road world  can  be  considered  in  no  other  light  than  the 
normal  reaction  of  the  people  against  the  political 
aggressions  of  the  roads  themselves,  perpetrated  by  the 
attorneys  of  the  roads  for  their  own  personal  gain, 
carried  to  the  extent  of  ruining  the  credit  of  the  roads 
in  the  outrages  constantly  heaped  upon  the  people. 
The  great  army  of  employes  of  all  industries,  thus 
thrown  out  of  work,  with  no  means  of  support,  suffer, 
and,  justly  become  desperate,  ending  in  a  well-founded 
distrust  of,  then  an  opposition  to,  both  capital  and 
government,  because  they  see  their  distresses  directly 
attributable  to  the  joint  and  concurrent  action  of  both. 
The  tradesman  next  suffers  in  a  decrease  in  the  amount 
of  his  business,  loss  in  accounts  of  those  themselves 
ruined,  and  in  extensions  of  doubtful  credits. 

A  government  which  periodically  creates  such  general 
disaster  in  the  business  affairs  of  the  country,  on  the 
election  of  a  president,  is  bad ;  the  government  of  the 
United  States  does  this;  and,  therefore,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  in  this  particular,  is  bad. 

Having  arrived  at  the  conclusion  of  the  existence  of 
this  bad  condition,  with  all  the  certainty  of  a  syllo- 
gism, the  next  inquiry  should  be  for  remedies,  which 
are  found  to  be  very  numerous,  but  no  specific  has  yet 
been  discovered. 

The  evil  is,  first,  and,  chiefly,  in  proportion  to  the 
length  of  the  term,  for  life  or  years,  short  or  long,  as, 
universally,  people  submit  with  a  better  grace  to  a 
short  than  a  long  term  of  evil,  and,  in  a  very  important 
sense,  all  government  is  an  evil,  the  term  should  be 
short. 

Secondly,  the  evil  bears  a  direct  relation  to  the  ex- 


POLITICAL.  185 


tent  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  chief  executive;  and, 
therefore,  these  prerogatives  should  be  curtailed. 

The  extent  of  the  shortening  of  the  term  and  the 
curtailment  of  power  must  be  left  to  experiment; 
but  the  certainty  now  is,  that  the  one  should  be  short- 
ened and  the  other  curtailed.  The  manner  of  doing 
this  is,  also,  all-important:  No  president  should  be 
allowed  a  second  term;  because,  as  now  appears,  the 
chief  executive  uses  his  first  term  to  secure  a  second 
almost  always  in  the  face  of  a  denial,  made  in  his  in- 
augural address,  that  he  favors  but  a  single  term,  which 
people  now  know  how  to  value  at  its  true  worth ;  and 
not  only  the  acts  of  the  president,  but  those  of  the  pre- 
vailing party,  as  his  second  or  leader,  proceed,  through 
the  entire  administration,  with  no  other  purpose  in 
view  than  reelection;  the  government  of  the  country, 
if  not  lost  sight  of  entirely,  becomes  a  secondary  con- 
sideration, while  political  control  always  remains  the 
first. 

Does  this  show  that  our  government  is  good,  and 
laid  along  the  right  lines? 

The  indirect  mode  of  election,  through  a  college, 
entirely  failed  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose 
claimed  and  intended;  has  always  been  a  failure; 
and  should,  therefore,  be  discontinued.  A  popular, 
direct  vote  would  be  better  in  that  it  would  remove 
the  expense  and  delay  of  indirection,  but  would,  other- 
wise, produce  the  same  general  results,  so  that,  either 
an  indirect  or  a  direct  popular  choice  is  bad. 

The  unfair  and  dishonest  means  employed  by  the 
party  leaders,  and,  by  the  presidents  themselves, 
when  they  conduct  their  own  campaigns,  for  a  first, 
but,  especially,  for  a  second  term,  I  mention  as  the 


186  MEXICO. 

last,  but,  by  no  means,  the  least,  or  all  the  evils  of 
the  case;  and  I  have  reserved  this  one  for  the  last, 
because  now  the  greatest.  If  half  a  million  is  wanted 
on  the  eve  of  the  election  to  make  New  York  sure,  a 
half-million  is  forthcoming;  and,  further,  I  swear 
not. 

Having  thus  stated  a  few  of  the  greater  evils,  like 
the  symptons  of  a  dire  disease,  and  suggested,  as  I 
progressed,  provisional  arrangements,  like  diet,  a  bath, 
a  clean  bed,  pure  air  and  sunlight,  to  the  sick,  the 
malady  has  yet  been  unprovided  for ;  and,  thus,  death 
is  only  delayed,  not  counteracted  or  warded  off. 

From  what  has  been  said,  the  election  of  a  president 
by  universal  suffrage,  whether  direct  or  indirect,  is  dis- 
astrous and  improper ;  an  election  by  the  States  would 
be  still  worse;  and,  elections  by  conventions  of  the 
people  would  doubtlessly  be  impossible,  or,  if  possible, 
insupportable. 

Now,  facing  the  question  squarely,  the  election  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  should  be  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  from  among  the  members 
of  that  body,  which  should,  in  that  event,  be  wholly 
elected  by  the  people  of  the  various  States,  composed 
of  members  whose  qualifications  were  equal  to  the  pres- 
idential requirement. 

Details  for  the  orderly  prosecution  of  such  a  scheme 
would  not  be  difficult  of  arrangement. 

Those,  who  feel  themselves  completely  committed 
to  the  government  of  the  majority,  would  here  find 
little  objection,  because  the  party  in  the  majority  in 
the  country  would  necessarily  have  a  majority  in  Con- 
gress, and  thus  control  the  election. 

Party  domination,  however,  I  regard  as  the  very 


POLITICAL.  187 


greatest  evil  of  our  system  of  government ;  and  I  now 
propose  a  plan  for  establishing  and  keeping  that  equi- 
librium between  political  parties,  so  necessary  to  the 
proper  and  orderly  conduct  of  affairs  in  an  enlightened 
republic ;  and  it  may  be  as  novel  as  original : 

I  would  have  all  the  members  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  elected  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people  of 
the  various  States,  in  the  same  manner  in  which  our 
state  legislatures  are  elected ;  every  one  of  these  mem- 
bers should  have  the  qualifications  of  the  presidential 
requirements;  and  the  president  should  be  chosen 
from  among  the  minority. 

This  sounds  ridiculous  only  because  new,  as  men  used 
to  be  laughed  out  of  society,  when  announcing  scien- 
tific discoveries ;  but  the  scheme  grows  with  considera- 
tion, and  develops  with  attention. 

I  would,  also,  provide  a  term  of  moderate  length 
for  the  president  and  his  cabinet;  and,  what  is,  by 
no  means,  new,  would  have  them  removable  on  a  vote 
of  confidence,  and  never  eligible  to  a  second  term. 

This  would,  not  only  create  and  maintain  that 
much-desired  equilibrium,  so  necessary  between  po- 
litical parties,  but  would,  also,  place  the  government, 
at  all  times,  under  the  control  of  Congress,  existing 
and  holding,  as  to  individual  members,  under  the 
suffrage  of  circumscribed  communities;  and,  as  a 
last  safeguard,  I  would  give  these  circumscribed  com- 
munities the  right  of  a  vote  of  confidence,  at  any  time, 
on  the  conduct  of  the  representatives  they  had  elected. 

The  people  would  then  rule,  provided  they  had  the 
choice  of  selection,  which  they  do  not  now  have,  under 
the  system  of  nominations  by  conventions,  which  give 
the  people  the  right  of  party  suffrage  only,  and  never 


188  MEXICO. 

the  choice  of  the  individual  in  that  party,  with  the 
result  that  our  offices  are  filled  with  men  who  could 
never  secure  them,  if  the  people  named  the  candidates 
as  well  as  elected  them.  The  system  of  primaries,  as 
now  existing,  applies  almost  everywhere,  to  municipal 
and  township  affairs  only,  while  the  County,  State  and 
National  committees  constitute  the  indirect  governing 
boards  of  the  country. 

We  thus  see  that  our  governmental  operations  are 
subject  to  two  indirections — from  the  people  to  the 
committees,  thence  to  the  officers;  and,  if  we  get 
anything  in  return,  this  course  must  be  retraced,  so 
that,  in  reality,  the  road  from  the  people  to  their  officers 
and  back  has  four  turns. 

Who  said  we  had  a  republic?  and,  Where  is  that  man 
who  has  been  crying  democracy? 

The  people  are  seeking,  against  the  determined  re- 
sistance of  the  politicians,  a  relief  from  this  error, 
through  the  institution  of  direct  primaries  for  the  nam- 
ing of  candidates  for  all  offices,  an  experiment,  indeed, 
but,  already,  showing  signs  of  success. 

The  legislature  of  a  free  government  should  never  be 
under  pressure  of  the  executive,  but  the  executive 
ought  rather  be  under  the  control  of  the  legislative, 
in  turn,  under  the  control  of  the  people;  then  we  are 
approaching  republican  institutions,  which  we  cannot 
now  be  said  to  possess,  except  in  name  only ;  and,  with 
the  legislature,  as  the  dominating  element  in  the  gov- 
ernment, the  people,  have  the  means  of  expressing 
their  will,  impossible  of  attainment,  where  the  legisla- 
ture is  weak  and  the  executive  strong,  as  with  us  now  ; 
because  no  executive  either  has  the  desire  or  the  capac- 


POLITICAL.  189 


ity  to  comprehend  all  the  multifarious  wants  of  the 
people,  which  they  can  easily  make  known  to  the  law- 
makers selected  by  them,  and  under  their  control. 

Medieval  Europe,  comprising,  as  I  divide  the  times, 
that  period  from  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire  to  the 
French  revolution  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, furnishes  many  curious  and  amusing  instances 
of  what  a  legislative  assembly  will  do  under  pressure 
of  executive  prerogatives ;  and  our  own  times  have  not 
been  lacking  in  like  instances. 

So  far  as  I  know,  no  legislative  body  ever  enacted 
that  temperature  should  be  divided  into  cold,  warm, 
and  hot,  and  that,  under  given  conditions,  a  tribunal 
should  determine  which  one  of  these  degrees  prevailed ; 
but  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  at  its  last  session, 
under  executive  pressure,  invading  the  domain  of 
philosophy,  and,  on  precisely  the  same  principle,  en- 
•  acted  that  negligence  was  slight,  ordinary,  and  gross, 
and  that  a  jury  should  determine,  under  conditions  to 
be  given,  which  one,  at  the  time,  prevailed. 

Both  temperature  and  negligence  have  their  degrees, 
which  are  always  relative,  and  never  arbitrary;  the 
scale  of  both  is  continuous  and  unbroken;  and  our 
divisions  are  only  imaginary. 

To  be  philosophic,  we  must  examine  for  causes; 
but,  under  this  act  of  Congress,  we  need  only  consider 
events.  If  the  jury  says,  "This  spring  is  cold,"  al- 
though bubbling  in  clouds  of  steam,  this  constitutes 
legal  coldness;  if  the  jury  finds  that  "This  ice  is  hot," 
its  legal  status  is  thus  determined;  and,  if,  again,  the 
jury  determines  that  "This  water  is  both  cold  and 
hot,"  the  majesty  of  the  law  has  again  been  upheld. 

Negligence,   as  slight,   ordinary  and  gross,  in  like 


190  MEXICO. 

manner,  becomes  matter  of  caprice  as  to  legal  classifi- 
cation only,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  operating 
cause. 

If  a  man  be  drowned,  he  is  as  dead,  whether  the  water 
be  cold,  warm,  or  hot;  and  the  immediate  operating 
cause  is  the  water ;  but  the  case  depends  upon  whether 
or  not  he  got  into  the  water  by  his  own  fault,  which 
gives  us  an  insight  into  the  true  relation  of  human 
conduct. 

If  an  engineer  is  killed  in  a  collision,  he  is  as  dead, 
whether  by  slight,  ordinary  or  gross  negligence;  and 
the  immediate  operating  cause  is  the  collision;  but 
the  case  depends  upon  whether  or  not  he  caused  the 
collision,  which  leads  us  into  an  inquiry  on  the  relation 
of  causes. 

We,  therefore,  see  that  relation  and  not  degree  is  the 
law  of  negligence  as  much  as  of  temperature,  and  that 
the  difference  is  as  the  orderly  course  of  nature  differs 
from  the  arbitrary  classifications  of  man. 

We  have  all  read  and  heard  a  great  deal  about  our 
sister  republic  of  Mexico;  but  we  must  disabuse  our 
minds  of  that  delusion.  However  much,  like  the  little 
boy,  we  have  been  looking  for  a  sister,  we  are  disap- 
pointed; and  I  cannot  say  but  that,  on  learning  the 
fact,  I  experienced  the  feeling  of  the  disappointed  little 
boy;  but  we  have  all  heard,  also,  of  this  same  little 
boy  who  was  glad  only  once,  and  sorry  ever  after; 
and,  even  in  this,  I  fancy  I  might  have  found  for  my- 
self a  parallel,  in  view  of  what  I  afterwards  learned. 

Latin-American  republics  is  a  familiar  expression, 
but  most  misleading,  because  the  small  proportion  of 


POLITICAL.  191 


"Latins"  in  these  countries  does  not  entitle  them  to 
any  such  designation. 

I  am  sure  that  in  Mexico,  and  I  believe  that  in  the 
other  so-called  Latin-American  countries,  the  propor- 
tion of  the  population  of  Spanish  descent  is  too  small 
to  be  entitled  to  the  distinction  of  giving  a  name  to  the 
government,  and,  also,  that  they  have  neither  legal, 
equitable  nor  moral  right  to  govern. 

The  natives,  in  all  these  countries,  were  subjugated 
by  cruel,  murderous  conquerors;  and,  in  Mexico,  and 
in  Peru,  in  particular,  the  natives  were  murdered  by  the 
millions.  (See  Prescott's  "Conquests"  of  these  coun- 
tries, and  Draper's  Intellectual  Development.") 

The  constant  state  of  uprisings,  rebellions  and  revo- 
lutions in  these  countries  is  due  to  the  contentions  be- 
tween factions  of  the  Spanish- American  population  for 
control  of  the  government ;  and,  if  this  Spanish- Amer- 
ican element  were  subdued,  as  it  should  be,  and  as  it 
has  been  in  Mexico,  peace  would  prevail. 

The  natives  should  rise,  and  take  possession  of  the 
government,  and  reclaim  their  lands;  because  the 
Spaniards,  without  any  show  of  right,  and  with  no 
other  purpose  than  robbery,  took  from  them  the  lands 
and  the  whole  country,  reducing  the  natives  to  slavery, 
still  existing,  I  am  informed,  under  the  name  of  peon- 
age, in  some  of  these  countries,  but  wiped  out  of  Mexico 
some  years  ago. 

I  was  on  what  was  said  to  be  the  largest  hacienda  in 
Mexico,  owned  by  a  single  individual,  the  acreage  of 
which  I  could  not  give,  because,  not  only  the  acre  is 
not  the  unit  of  land  measure  in  Mexico,  but  also  be- 
cause this  tract  is  too  large  to  be  reckoned  by  acres, 
on  which  live  about  seven  thousand  men  with  their 


192  MEXICO. 

families.  Now,  if  the  families  average  five  each,  the 
total  number  would  be  thirty-five  thousand  people, 
all  living  on  the  premises  of  one  man;  and,  until  the 
discontinuance  of  peonage,  were  practically  his  indi- 
vidual property. 

Most  of  these  people  still  live  there,  on  about  the 
same  terms,  and  in  about  the  same  condition,  as  under 
their  former  relation,  with  this  exception,  that  the 
owner  now  pays  them  wages  varying  from  25  cents  to 
$1.50  per  month  Mexican  money,  equal  to  12£  cents 
and  75  cents  our  money,  respectively. 

The  people,  in  addition  to  these  munificent  salaries, 
get  their  living  off  the  place,  as  formerly,  so  that  they 
might  all  be  capitalists,  if  they  placed  these  sums  on 
deposit,  for  which  they  have  no  immediate  use;  and 
might  thus  be  great  benefactors,  to  the  public  at  large, 
and  to  the  bankers  in  particular,  in  distressing  times, 
to  relieve  the  money  stringency  of  the  country. 

In  the  great  financial  crisis  of  the  latter  part  of  Octo- 
ber and  the  fore  part  of  November,  1907,  on  account  of 
the  stringency  of  money,  our  bankers  seem  to  be  al- 
most the  object  of  our  charity;  and,  although  they 
had  been  publishing  for  a  year  or  more  that  their 
banks  were  bursting,  not  from  emptiness  this  time,  but 
from  plethoric  fullness,  all  at  once,  the  country  over, 
they  shut  their  doors,  to  keep  the  flood  in  they  told  us ; 
but,  when  they  did  commence  to  open  the  sluices,  it 
was  with  such  reserve  as  not  even  to  wet  the  channel  of 
commerce,  making  us  believe  that  they  would  appre- 
ciate the  deposits  of  a  man  who  was  making  12£  cents 
a  day. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
SOCIAL. 

Our  individual  social  existence,  beginning  at  birth, 
is  closely  followed  by  the  operation  of  physiological 
functions  and  the  demonstration  of  physical  principles, 
all  occurring  and  succeeding  without  our  volition  and 
knowledge,  continue  through  our  purely  vegetating 
period,  after  which  we  observe  celestial  phenomena, 
and  then  deduce  laws. 

These  five  departments  of  our  life,  ever  progressing, 
but  never  merging,  correspond  with  the  five  branches 
of  our  knowledge,  the  social,  the  physiological,  the 
physical,  the  astronomical,  and  the  mathematical,  the 
last  being  but  the  conclusions  drawn  from  all  the  others. 

By  extending  this  classification  beyond  the  life  of 
man,  we  have  the  biological  in  its  largest  sense,  the 
physiological  of  animal  and  vegetable,  the  physical 
of  organic  and  inorganic,  the  astronomical  of  terrestrial 
and  celestial,  and  the  mathematical,  concrete  and  ab- 
stract, so  that  all  things  and  all  knowledge  are  even- 
tually reducible  to  correspondences  with  the  five  de- 
partments of  our  lives. 

The  laws  of  pure  mathematics  are  well  defined,  and 
seem  absolute,  but  the  demonstration  of  the  concrete 
requires  a  differential  element ;  terrestrial  astronomy  is 
well  understood,  but  the  celestial  is  sometimes  entan- 
gled with  hypotheses;  the  physical  of  organic  and 
[193]. 


194  MEXICO. 

inorganic,  though  not  fully  explored,  has  yet  had  the 
operation  of  its  principles  determined;  and  the  same 
is,  also,  true  of  the  physiological ;  but  of  the  social,  we 
cannot  say  that  we  have  a  science,  although  the  ma- 
terial for  investigation  and  demonstration  has  always 
been  present  and  accessible.  The  things  nearest  us 
are  last  seen,  appreciated,  or  understood. 

Upon  the  social  state,  the  first,  the  continuing,  and 
the  last,  in  order  of  time,  the  greatest,  in  relation  of 
quantity,  and  the  most  potent  in  the  activity  of  our 
existence,  I  now  enter. 

As  the  social  science  has  not  yet  been  written,  I  need 
not  advise  the  reader  that  he  will  not  discover  it,  as  he 
peruses  these  pages.  All  I  can  do  is  to  recount  a  few 
facts  which  I  have  observed,  and  to  draw  such  conclu- 
sions, as,  in  my  judgment,  the  conditions  will  warrant. 

In  the  largest  sense,  the  social  state  embraces  all  our 
lives,  and  the  operation  of  this  principle  furnishes  me 
a  proper  excuse  for  embracing  so  many  things  in  this 
chapter  which  might,  with  equal  impropriety,  be  classed 
elsewhere ;  but  the  small  number  of  divisions  to  which 
I  have  confined  myself  compels  me  to  a  faulty  class- 
ification to  bring  everything  within  the  five  or  six 
phases  of  human  existence  and  relations  announced 
at  the  beginning  of  the  work. 

All  of  us  are  familiar  with  the  great  controversies, 
lasting  for  a  period  of  nearly  two  thousand  years,  over 
the  geocentric  and  heliocentric  theories;  how  that 
men  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  scientific  fact,  as 
others  had  for  religious  truths ;  how  that,  in  the  prog- 
ress of  investigations,  every  new  point  gained  was  met 
with  the  whole  battery  of  the  opposition,  always  on 
the  increase;  how  that  the  fact  was  eventually  ascer- 


SOCIAL.  195 

tained,  and  demonstrated;  how  the  opposition  was 
silenced;  but  retained  its  position  and  force  to  use 
again,  and,  always,  when  occasion  arises.  This  is  the 
history  of  all  great  facts,  long  and  difficult  of  ascer- 
tainment. 

The  origin  of  the  human  race  is  a  kindred  question, 
and  has  been  a  kindred  controversy,  passing,  as  far 
as  it  has  come,  along  the  same  road,  and  sometimes  in 
company,  with  the  other,  having  now  reached  the 
station  where  its  fate,  in  the  hands  of  religion,  is  settled 
on  authority ;  in  the  hands  of  the  indolent,  on  impos- 
sibility; while  science,  sitting  calmly  by,  awaits  the 
issue. 

Aristotle,  who  seems  to  have  known  more  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  world,  both  before  and  since  his  time,  said, 
in  respect  to  the  questions  concerning  the  relation  of 
the  earth  to  the  universe,  that  investigation  had  not 
then  secured  enough  of  facts  to  make  controversy 
on  the  subject  profitable. 

Now,  this  is  about  the  condition  of  the  controversy 
respecting  the  origin  of  the  human  race;  and  while  I 
do  not  intend  to  become  controversial,  I,  at  least,  want 
to  offer  some  suggestions,  always,  I  hope,  allowable  on 
obscure  questions  whose  solutions  would  be  both  inter- 
esting and  profitable. 

I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  existence,  equidistant 
from  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  of  the  ancient,  populous 
and  civilized  countries  of  Peru  on  the  south  and  Mexico 
on  the  north;  the  evidence  of  civilization  between; 
and  that  all  the  remainder  of  the  Western  Hemisphere, 
with  its  adjacent  islands,  except  a  few  Esquimaux 
at  the  extreme  north,  was  thinly  inhabited  by  a  kindred 
people  in  various  phases  of  savage  life  in  harmony  with 


196  MEXICO. 

the  climatic  conditions  in  which  they  lived ;  that,  with 
increase  of  distance  from  the  great  centers  of  the  an- 
cient population,  comes  more  pronounced  difference  in 
the  people;  and  that  the  aborigines  of  many  islands 
of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  bear  a  close  resemblance 
to  the  aborigines  of  the  continent.  This  shows  radia- 
tion from,  and  not  convergence  to,  a  center. 

I  want  also  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  of  what  easy 
gradations  are  found,  on  starting  with  this  great  center 
of  population  in  Peru  and  Mexico,  passing  westward, 
as  we  might  expect  the  fishing-canoes  to  be  drifted 
by  the  trade  winds,  or  carried  by  the  great  equatorial 
current,  reaching  the  many  islands  dotting  the  Pacific, 
then  the  great  islands  of  Polynesia,  from  which  we  have 
only  a  step  to  make  to  the  mainland  of  Asia,  thence 
spreading  over  eastern  Asia  to  the  Arctic  regions, 
thence  eastward  across  Behring's  Strait,  thence  over 
North  America  to  Mexico,  thus  completing  the  circuit. 
In  this  scheme,  the  passage  of  Behring's  Strait,  whether 
eastward  or  westward,  or  in  both  directions,  at  differ- 
ent times,  becomes  immaterial;  because,  if  man  did 
first  come  to  Mexico  from  the  north,  he  afterward,  in 
the  present  determining  force,  made  the  circuit,  from 
Mexico  and  Peru,  by  the  equatorial  Pacific,  thence 
north  along  eastern  Asia,  thence  to  Behring's  Strait, 
thence  south  to  Mexico,  as  before  stated ;  so  that,  if  the 
journey  I  have  here  outlined  was  not,  in  fact,  the  first 
movement,  it  was,  nevertheless,  as  certainly  made. 

Had  Captain  Cook  not  had  the  circumnavigation  of 
the  globe  and  return  to  Great  Britain  in  view,  he  would, 
doubtless,  have  taken  the  same  course. 

The  movement  or  migration  by  the  equatorial  cur- 
rent and  by  the  aid  of  the  tradewinds  is  the  more  prob- 


SOCIAL.  197 

able,  also,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  migrations  by 
water,  either  voluntary  or  forced,  have  been  the  more 
common  among  ancient  peoples. 

Coming  back  now  to  Polynesia,  in  this  great  race 
movement,  another  branch  extended  thence  to  Austra- 
lia. 

I  want  finally  to  call  attention  to  the  relation  exist- 
ing in  the  color  of  the  people  of  the  quarters  of  the 
world  mentioned;  that  the  distinctions  of  copper 
color,  brown,  red,  yellow,  are  misleading,  as  anyone 
who  has  seen  all  these  races  will  testify,  and  who  knows 
the  modifications  always  produced  in  the  same  race, 
living  under  different  conditions  of  sanitation,  sunlight, 
heat,  and  moisture. 

I  want  now  to  assert  that  the  existence  of  the  great 
equatorial  current  and  the  tradewinds,  always  flowing 
and  blowing  westward,  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
distribution,  over  that  portion  of  the  globe  mentioned, 
of  a  people  inhabiting  from  Mexico  to  Peru ;  and  that, 
if  these  people  did  come  to  the  Western  Hemisphere 
by  way  of  Behring's  Strait,  they  afterward  emigrated 
across  the  Pacific,  as  I  have  explained,  then  spreading 
over  Polynesia  and  Australia  to  the  south  and  eastern 
Asia  on  the  north  to  the  Arctic  regions,  thence  by  way 
of  Behring's  Strait,  thus  completing  the  circuit,  as 
before  stated. 

I  am  not  prepared  to  believe  that  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific  were  discovered  and  settled  by  people  who  made 
their  way  against  the  equatorial  current  and  the  trade- 
winds  ;  and  I  give  the  same  reason  as  explaining  why 
the  aborigines  of  America  did  not  pass  eastward,  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  settle  in  Africa. 

The  completion  of  this  scheme,  also,  requires  that  I 


198  MEXICO. 

account  for  the  failure  of  the  people  of  Africa  to  have 
drifted  westward,  with  the  equatorial  current  and 
tradewinds,  to  South  America,  which  I  will  now  do: 

While  the  distance  from  Africa  westward  to  South 
America  is  very  much  less  than  that  from  South  Amer- 
ica westward  to  Asia,  yet  the  Atlantic,  between  Africa 
and  South  America,  in  the  zone  of  the  equatorial  cur- 
rent and  the  tradewinds,  is  altogether  free  from  is- 
lands, but  the  Pacific,  between  South  America  and 
Asia,  in  the  same  zone,  is  studded  with  islands,  thus 
making  the  voyage  across  the  Pacific,  by  primitive 
methods,  the  more  easy. 

For  still  another  reason  why  the  aborigines  of  Africa 
did  not  drift  westward  across  the  Atlantic  to  South 
America,  I  mention  the  fact  that  the  great  current 
which  comes  from  the  Indian  Ocean,  sweeping  west- 
ward around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  enters  the  south 
Atlantic  and  flows  in  a  northwesterly  direction  until 
it  joins  the  Atlantic  equatorial  current,  whence  the 
two  currents,  thus  joined,  flow  in  a  more  westerly  di- 
rection until  nearing  the  coast  of  South  America,  where, 
by  reason  of  the  direction  of  the  coastline  of  that  con- 
tinent, the  consolidated  current  is  now  deflected  to  the 
northwest  parallel  with  the  northeast  coast  of  Brazil, 
thence  entering  the  Caribbean  Sea,  thence  almost  en- 
circling the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  emerging  at  the  point  of 
Florida,  thence  in  a  northeasterly  direction  parallel 
with  the  east  coast  of  North  America  to  the  Banks  of 
Newfoundland,  thence  spreading  out  in  a  wide  and 
slow  current,  flows  eastward  across  the  Atlantic  against 
the  west  coast  of  Europe,  and  dividing,  one  branch  to 
the  north  losing  itself  in  Arctic  waters  to  the  north  of 
Europe,  while  the  other  branch,  flowing  south  along 


SOCIAL.  199 

the  west  coast  of  Europe,  joins  the  Atlantic  equatorial 
current,  to  again  make  the  circuit;  so  that  neither 
from  the  west  coast  of  Europe  nor  from  the  west  coast 
of  Africa  north  of  the  equator  are  the  ocean  currents 
favorable  for  drifting  from  the  Eastern  to  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

The  west  coast  of  Africa  is  almost  barren  and  rain- 
less, and  yet  but  very  sparsely  settled,  so  that,  during 
the  period  under  consideration,  an  entire  lack  of  pop- 
ulation, or  nearly  so,  might  be  assumed. 

The  aborigines  of  Africa  have  never  been  seamen; 
and,  no  doubt,  as  primitive  men,  they  loved  ease  even 
more  than  now. 

As  a  last  reason,  I  mention  the  disposition,  almost  in- 
stinct, of  that  race,  to  shrink  from  imaginary,  rather 
than  real  dangers,  with  which  the  ocean,  to  primitive 
man,  has  always  teemed. 

Much  has  been  said  respecting  the  similarity  of  the 
civilizations  of  Mexico  and  Peru  with  those  of  Egypt, 
accompanied  with  the  assumption,  that,  as  we  have 
known  of  Egypt  longer  than  of  Mexico  and  Peru, 
Egypt  must,  therefore,  be  the  older,  and  that  commu- 
nication, at  some  former  time,  existed  between  these 
countries ;  but,  I  attach  little  importance  to  correspon- 
dences in  the  civilization  and  monuments  of  one  people 
to  connect  them  in  race  or  influence  with  another. 
Children,  playing  in  the  sand,  in  all  countries  and  cli- 
mates, at  all  times,  have  built  it  into  heaps;  when 
grown,  they  then  constructed  mounds,  which  later 
assumed  definite  forms;  if  raised  in  the  desert,  or  a 
field,  they  would  naturally  be  round;  but,  if  built 
within  a  city,  laid  out  in  squares,  they  would  necessa- 
rily be  square  also ;  and  thus  we  see  the  evolution  of 


200  MEXICO. 

the  pyramid,  which  does  not  depend  upon  the  acts  of  a 
particular  man  or  nation,  but  upon  the  nature  and 
constitution  of  man. 

These  same  children,  having  built  their  heaps  of 
sand,  have  placed  sticks  or  twigs  in  the  top;  and, 
perceiving  the  effect,  the  importance  of  the  base  is 
diminished,  and  the  obelisk,  the  shaft,  the  tombstone, 
have  arisen. 

These  child's  playthings  are  first  "Mine"  and 
"Yours";  then  labeled  "Tommy"  and  "Elsie,"  so 
that  we  here  see  the  origin  of  inscriptions. 

From  it  all,  we  see  children,  in  their  very  first  act  of 
design,  building  their  tombs. 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  I  want  also  to  assert 
that  natural  causes,  when  affording  a  full  and  satis- 
factory explanation  of  a  fact,  should  be  disregarded 
only  when  the  case  in  question  is  accounted  for  by 
positive  grounds  to  the  contrary.  Our  reason  should 
follow  the  channels  of  nature. 

This  scheme  does  not  account  for  all  the  inhabitants 
of  our  globe;  and  I  have  no  intention  of  pressing  it 
beyond  the  fact. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  aborigines  of  Africa  are  in- 
digenous to  the  low  equatorial  portion  of  that  continent ; 
emigrating  thence  to  the  high  altitudes  and  temperate 
climate  of  Abyssinia,  the  same  change  in  mode  of  life 
would  occur,  as  doubtless  did  occur,  to  the  peoples  of 
Peru  and  Mexico,  in  passing  from  the  low  land  of  the 
isthmus ;  that  from  Abyssinia,  the  passage  by  the  Nile 
is  easy  and  natural,  and  must  have  occurred,  account- 
ing for  the  dark  skins  and  curly  hair  of  the  ancient  in- 
habitants of  upper  Egypt. 

We  now  come  to  historic  times,  and  the  remainder 


SOCIAL.  201 

is  certain.  Let  us  turn  to  Herodotus,  where  we  read 
of  expeditions  by  adventurers  from  Egypt  to  Ethiopia, 
one  of  them  piercing  even  to  the  table  of  the  sun, 
which  men  cursed  daily  by  reason  of  his  tormenting 
heat,  and  where  shadows  were  cast  to  the  south,  a 
fact  the  relation  of  which  cast  entire  discredit  on  the 
authenticity  of  all  that  the  adventurers  related;  how 
that  military  expeditions  were  attempted  and  made 
between  Ethiopia  and  Egypt ;  how  that  one  Ethiopian 
king  conquered  Egypt,  holding  possession  of  the  coun- 
try for  only  the  time  stated  by  the  oracle,  when  he 
returned  home,  leaving  the  country  again  free. 

This  history  is  mentioned  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  of  the  establishment  of  communications  between 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  and  especially  to  show  that  the 
Ethiopians,  having  once  attained  the  headwaters  of 
the'^Nile,  would  naturally  float  down  that  river. 

The  Ethiopians  afterwards  became  the  slaves  of 
Egypt,  and  were  used  in  the  construction  of  the  great 
temples,  monuments  and  pyramids  of  that  country. 
When  this  work  was  done,  and  the  Egyptians  had  no 
more  use  for  them ;  and,  fearing  not  only  for  their  own 
domestic  safety,  but  that,  if  war  should  ensue,  these 
slaves  might  go  over  to  the  enemy,  the  Egyptians 
emancipated  them,  sending  them  into  Asia,  whence 
originated  the  Hebrews,  whose  naturally  intractable 
dispositions  rendered  impossible  the  maintenance  of 
themselves  as  a  nation;  and,  being  natural  trades- 
men, they  soon  dispersed  over  the  whole  earth,  al- 
though the  city  of  Jerusalem  long  remained  as  the 
center  of  their  affections,  and  still  so  remains,  long  after 
their  national  character  has  disappeared,  and  to  which 
city  their  tradition  points  a  return. 


202  MEXICO. 

We,  therefore,  see  that  the  Hebrew  is  a  descendant 
of  the  Ethiopian,  from  the  table  of  the  sun,  where  the 
shadow  is  cast  to  the  south. 

With  those  who  accept  the  Biblical  account  of  the 
migrations  of  the  Hebrews,  then  the  Children  of  Israel, 
I  have  no  controversy.  As  Max  Miiller  remarks, 
"With  such  antagonists,  I  am  too  old  to  fight!" 

The  movements  of  the  Aryan  race  are  well  known, 
and  only  require  mention  here  to  complete  my  view. 
Coming  into  history  in  Asia,  perhaps  near  the  Cau- 
casus Mountains,  one  branch  going  east,  and  spread- 
ing over  most  of  the  country  south  of  the  Himalayas, 
except  the  far  east,  which  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
that  country  was  then  inhabited;  and,  I  will  assume, 
by  the  emigrants  from  America,  heretofore  mentioned ; 
the  other,  spreading  over  Asia  Minor,  thence  to  all 
Europe,  later  to  America  and  to  all  the  world.  The 
Aryans  are  the  only  people  whose  identity  and  move- 
ments have  been  determined  by  a  study  of  their  lan- 
guage, and  this  alone  has  given  us  their  early  history. 

The  study  of  language  may  sometime  demonstrate 
the  truth  of  the  error  of  the  other  great  movements  I 
have  mentioned;  and  I  hope  that  our  government 
will  sometime  find  a  little  money  which  may  be  ap- 
propriated to  the  benefit  of  science  and  humanity, 
because  the  task  is  too  great  for  individual  enter- 
prise, as  millions  of  dollars,  hundreds  of  men,  and 
more  than  a  lifetime  would  be  required  to  complete 
the  work. 

We  have  now  presented  the  great  race-movements 
of  the  world,  from  the  beginnings  to  the  present  time ; 
and  we  have  but  three.  I  am,  therefore,  forced  to 
differ  from  generally-accepted  authority,  as  my  facts 


SOCIAL.  203 

fall  short;  and  I  am  not  willing  to  expand  them  to 
keep  in  line  with  great  names.  If  I  differ,  that  is  my 
privilege.  If  I  were  great,  I  would  have  to  conform  to 
received  opinion;  but,  being  little,  I  may  be  allowed 
to  have  opinions  of  my  own. 

Having  thus  outlined  the  great  race-movements,  I 
come  now  to  the  Mexicans,  which  term,  in  the  largest 
sense,  means  all  those  domiciled  or  naturalized  in  the 
country,  and  forming  the  resident  population,  with  the 
rights  of  citizens.  This  is  the  political  meaning  of  the 
term. 

When  considering  citizens  from  the  standpoint  of 
race,  we  have  frequently  the  white,  the  brown,  the  yel- 
low and  the  black;  and  here  we  encounter  a  condition 
precluding,  notwithstanding  what  may  be  the  laws, 
the  idea  of  equality,  because  nature  has  set  material 
barriers  which  ideas  cannot  remove,  and  against  which 
the  work  of  art  has  proved  equally  ineffectual. 

In  Mexico,  we  have  the  brown  and  the  white  races 
to  consider,  from  the  standpoint  of  color.  I  call  the 
one  race,  the  aboriginal,  brown,  knowing  that  I  am 
not  coming  within  the  scientific  designation  of  an- 
thropologists, but  it  is  nearer  brown,  of  many  shades, 
than  any  other  commonly  understood  color;  and  I 
have  an  intense  dislike  for  descriptions  or  comparisons 
of  color,  which  carry  us  to  the  Red  Sea  or  the  Arctic 
regions.  Brown,  I  will,  therefore,  call  the  color  of 
the  aboriginal  or  native  Mexicans;  and,  if  this  give 
offense,  seeing  that  we  are  all  so  expert  and  sensitive 
on  the  question  of  colors,  I  will  simply  call  it  the  brown 
of  the  Mexicans,  which  would  allow  me  a  wide  departure 
from  the  fact. 


204  MEXICO. 

Coming  now  to  the  white  race,  I  do,  indeed,  have  a 
delicate  task  to  perform  and  a  sensitive  point  to  touch. 
Asking  pardon  of  the  fact,  the  white  race  of  Mexico 
are  the  descendants  in  the  country  of  the  Spaniards, 
whose  complexion  is  that  of  the  people  of  all  the  Med- 
iterranean countries,  none  of  whom  can,  in  reality, 
be  called  white. 

The  Caucasian,  ordinarily  called  the  white  race,  is 
far  from  having  a  monopoly  of  that  color,  and  is  cer- 
tainly more  inaccurately  designated  white  than  the 
Mexicans  brown,  if  any  objections  still  remain  on  that 
score. 

Beginning  with  the  "Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun," 
in  northern  Europe,  we  find  the  Caucasians  white- 
haired  and  whiteskinned ;  in  southern  Asia,  we  find 
them  blackhaired  and  blackskinned ;  and  in  the  Med- 
iterranean countries,  or  midway,  we  find  them  black- 
haired  with  a  sallow  skin,  called  olive,  when  it  is  clean. 
The  climate  of  Mexico  is  a  tanning  and  not  a  bleaching 
one,  so  that  the  descendants  of  the  Spaniards  have  not 
improved  in  color  there. 

In  the  character  of  citizens  of  a  country  we  naturally 
expect  equality,  but  this  general  principle  is  always 
profoundly  modified  where  difference  of  race  exists, 
and  is  in  proportion  to  the  difference. 

All  efforts  for  two  or  more  distinct  races  to  live  to- 
gether in  the  same  country,  governed  by  the  same  law, 
have  only  furnished  so  many  examples  of  failure, 
ranging  through  all  its  degrees;  and,  not  only  this, 
but  peoples  of  different  races,  living  in  proximity, 
even  though  as  distinct  and  well  organized  nations, 
have  never  been  able  to  exist  in  peace.  As  we  are  all 
so  familiar  with  history,  I  need  spend  no  time  on  ex- 


SOCIAL.  205 

amples,  but,  at  the  same  time,  I  will  refer,  for  the  sake 
of  making  my  statement  complete,  to  the  tribal  and 
race  movements  of  medieval  Europe. 

In  Mexico,  the  brown  and  the  white  races,  the  de- 
scendants of  the  aborigines  and  the  descendants  of  the 
Spaniards,  make  up  the  population,  with  a  sprinkling 
of  all  nationalities,  which  is  the  condition  to  be  found 
in  all  countries  of  any  note  or  advancement,  and,  par- 
ticularly, trade.  In  this  sprinkling,  Americans  pre- 
dominate, none  of  whom,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  have 
become  naturalized,  but  all  claiming  citizenship  in  the 
United  States,  whether  residing  there  five,  ten  or  twenty 
years. 

The  population  of  Mexico  is  said  to  be  about  thirteen 
millions,  but  I  am  inclined  not  to  accept  this  estimate, 
as  I  think  it  too  high ;  although,  whether  this  is  ten  or 
thirty  percent  too  high  is  not  much  to  the  purpose. 

I  have  no  information  at  all,  except  my  own  observa- 
tions, as  to  the  proportion  of  Spanish-Mexicans  and  of 
native  Mexicans,  so  I  must  make  my  best  guess, 
which  I  will  put  between  two  and  five  percent  for  the 
former,  nearer  two  than  five,  the  remainder,  of  course, 
natives.  This  conclusion  has  cost  me  much  observa- 
tion, and  calculation ;  but  to  show  how  untrustworthy 
most  estimates  of  this  kind  are,  I  will  mention  that  I 
asked  a  man,  resident  in  the  country  more  than  a 
dozen  years,  whose  business,  during  most  of  that  time, 
has  required  him  to  travel  over  the  entire  country, 
what  was  the  proportion  of  the  two  races,  and  he  an- 
swered about  twenty-five  percent  of  the  people  were 
descendants  of  the  Spaniards;  but,  on  talking  the 
matter  over  with  him,  he  admitted  it  to  be  about  five 
percent.  The  truth  is,  that  he  had  never  given  a 


206  MEXICO. 

thought  to  the  question,  and  answered  me  wildly  and 
offhand. 

What  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  we  know  least 
about  the  most  familiar  things!  Children,  and  some- 
times grown  people,  are  unable  to  give  a  description 
of  their  parents. 

I  will,  however,  not  to  incur  too  strong  objections, 
adopt  the  proportions  of  five  and  ninety-five  as  ex- 
pressing the  numerical  relations  of  these  two  races. 

Beginning  as  a  handful  of  adventurers,  invading  the 
country  in  1521,  afterwards  turning  murderers,  as  is 
usual  in  such  cases,  when  occasion  arises,  the  Spanish 
population  has  increased,  if  the  estimate  of  thirteen 
millions  as  the  entire  population  and  my  proportion  of 
five  percent  are  to  be  taken,  to  about  six  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand,  or  about  as  many  people  as  live  in  St. 
Louis. 

If  these  figures  were  reduced  two-thirds,  I  would 
feel  much  better  satisfied  with  them,  and  I  would  not 
be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  actual  number  of  persons 
of  unmixed  Spanish  blood  in  Mexico  is  less  than  one 
hundred  thousand. 

The  question  arises,  How  did  this  handful  of  Spanish 
obtain,  and  how  so  long  hold,  dominion  of  the  coun- 
try? The  answer  is,  Go  read  the  history  of  the  Con- 
quest; but  the  answer  as  to  existing  conditions  is  not 
so  easily  referred ;  and  I  must,  therefore,  give  my  own  / 
views  of  the  situation,  which,  I  think,  is  explained  fully 
by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  Spaniards  took  from  the 
Mexicans  the  land,  and  have  since  been  holding  pos- 
session; and,  as  land  is  the  true  and  only  basis  of 
wealth,  and  the  foundation  and  maintenance  of  aris- 
tocracy, a  complete  explanation  is  now  given. 


SOCIAL.  207 

The  people  who  own  the  land  rule  the  country,  of 
which  truth  all  history  is  but  a  single  example.  In 
Mexico,  these  great  tracts  called  haciendas  are  fre- 
quently in  the  possession  and  under  the  control  of  a 
single  individual,  usually  the  eldest  son,  who  has  pur- 
chased the  interests  of  the  other  heirs,  so  that  primo- 
geniture is  almost  as  much  the  fact  in  Mexico  as  the 
rule  in  England. 

The  decimating,  relentless  and  cruel  wars  so  long 
waged  by  the  Spaniards  against  the  natives,  and  the 
slavery  to  which  the  natives  were  reduced,  and  the 
privations  under  which  those  not  reduced,  have  suf- 
fered, have  doubtless  greatly  reduced  the  number  of 
the  natives,  and  I  will  assume  that  this  reduction  was 
in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  increase  of  the  Spaniards. 

If  I  had  an  immense  fortune  at  my  command,  and 
the  prospect  of  a  life  of  leisure,  I  would  devote  both  to 
the  study  and  development  of  Anthropology  in  the 
New  World;  if  I  had  only  a  few  years  to  give  to  the 
subject,  I  would  devote  it  to  that  part  of  the  New 
World  lying  between  and  including  Mexico  and  Peru; 
if  I  had  but  a  few  months,  I  would  give  them  to  Mex- 
ico; if  I  had  but  a  few  days,  I  would  give  them  to 
reading  Prescott ;  and,  if  but  a  few  hours,  I  would  sit 
down  and  think. 

Between  these  periods  of  a  lifetime  and  a  few  hours, 
we  can  all  find  a  little  leisure  in  which  to  view  this 
great  subject  of  Man  in  the  New  World,  and  collect 
facts  for  future  reflection. 

That  "truth  is  more  strange  than  fiction"  finds  a 
complete  exemplification  in  the  study  of  the  ancient 
civilizations  of  Mexico  and  Peru  and  the  countries 
lying  between  them.  The  facts  are  so  many,  so  great, 


208  MEXICO. 

so  wonderful,  so  interesting,  so  instructive,  and  the 
truths  to  be  deduced  so  forcible  and  easily  drawn,  and 
of  such  universal  application,  that  I  must  doubt  the 
intelligence  of  Americans  who  know  nothing  about 
them ;  and  I  want  to  be  so  candid  with  my  reader  as 
to  tell  him  here  and  now,  that,  if  he  is  entirely  ignorant 
on  this  subject,  he  is  not  invited  to  read  my  book, 
which  is  written  with  almost  all  the  history  of  Mexico 
assumed.  Men  who  know  nothing  are  the  freest  in 
their  opinions,  because  they  do  not  possess  even  a 
well-defined  ignorance  to  serve  as  a  background  for 
their  sayings. 

The  Spaniards,  under  Cortez,  arrived  in  Mexico  in 
1519,  and  took  possession  of  the  country,  which  Spain 
held  until  1821,  or  practically  three  hundred  years, 
when  Mexico  achieved  its  independence. 

Why  Spain  lost  dominion  in  the  New  World  so  com- 
pletely and  so  quickly,  when  she  seemed  to  be  so  pow- 
erful, has  long  been  a  wonderment  rather  than  a  ques- 
tion ;  and,  as  I  have  never  found,  in  my  reading,  any 
explanation  other  than  those  based  on  sentiment, 
which,  I  think,  rather  misleading  than  explanatory,  I 
will  state  the  cause,  as  I  have  concluded. 

Following  the  discovery  of  America,  Spain  made  an 
alliance  with  Austria,  which  gave  her  a  prominent  and 
potent  position  in  European  diplomacy,  and  raised  her 
to  a  first  power ;  she,  also,  during  that  time,  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  governed  by  wise  counsels  and  a  pro- 
gressive monarchy ;  but  France,  lying  between  Austria 
and  Spain,  and  of  antagonistic  interest  to  both,  through 
the  good  fortune  of  circumstances  and  the  efforts  of 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  perpetuated  by  Louis  XIV,  the 


SOCIAL.  209 

Austro-Spanish  alliance  was  broken,  and  Spain  ren- 
dered impotent  through  the  control,  by  France,  of  her 
kingship. 

What  happened  to  Spain  in  the  New  World  was  en- 
tirely due  to  the  diplomacy  of  France  for  her  own 
safety  and  her  own  aggrandizement.  Those  who  still 
want  to  think  of  the  event  in  a  poetic  strain,  may  ex- 
press themselves  sentimentally,  yet  truthfully,  by 
saying  that  France  was  the  hand  of  Fate  that  expelled 
Spain  from  the  New  World. 

And  those,  also,  who  are  looking  for  an  ultimate 
fatality,  or  who  indulge  a  passionate  fondness  for  re- 
tributive justice  in  all  things,  may  find  an  object  for 
their  sentiments  in  the  wrecking,  by  a  storm,  on  the 
very  island  where  Columbus  first  landed,  of  the  last 
vessel  captured  by  our  navy  from  Spain  in  the  events 
of  1898,  breaking  the  cables  which  bound  it  in  tow, 
and  driving  against  this  fatal  island,  that  the  last  act, 
as  all  others,  might  end  itself,  a  wreck  on  the  very 
spot  where  the  Spaniard  first  laid  violent  and  conquer- 
ing hands  upon  the  people  of  the  New  World,  thus  end- 
ing the  tragedy  in  that  poetic  justice,  without  which, 
no  human  event  or  divine  conception  seems  complete. 

From  1821  to  1861,  the  history  of  Mexico  is  written 
in  wars,  revolutions,  rebellions,  in  series,  constant  and 
continuous;  in  despotisms,  empires,  republics,  often 
coexistent,  and,  sometimes,  in  duplicate.  This  vau- 
deville of  anarchy  was  started  to  a  close  in  1861,  when 
the  government,  de  facto,  repudiated  its  foreign  debt, 
which  precipitated  foreign  intervention  on  the  part  of 
France,  Spain  and  England,  resulting  in  the  reign  of 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  from  1864  to  1867,  a  short 


210  MEXICO. 

period  of  about  three  years,  a  foreign  prince  under  the 
military  protection  mainly  of  France,  and  against  the 
consent  of  the  people  of  Mexico,  whose  reign  and 
life  both  ended  at  the  hands  of  the  Mexicans  in,  per- 
haps, the  first  just  revolution  in  which  they  had  ever 
been  engaged  since  achieving  their  independence  in 
1821. 

During  the  reign  of  Maximilian,  Juarez,  all  the  while, 
claimed  the  presidency,  and  he  it  was  who,  marching 
from  the  north,  cooperating  with  General,  now  Pres- 
ident, Diaz  on  the  south,  overthrew  the  empire. 

On  the  execution  of  Maximilian,  Juarez  took  active 
control  of  the  government,  and,  in  1871,  was  elected 
president  for  the  third  time,  having  for  opponents 
Lerdo  de  Tejada  and  Porfirio  Diaz,  the  present  in- 
cumbent. Diaz  then  headed  a  rebellion,  the  extent 
and  outcome  of  which  I  do  not  know,  in  the  midst  of 
which  President  Juarez  died,  and  Lerdo  de  Tejada, 
then  President  of  the  Supreme  Court,  succeeded  to  the 
office  of  President  of  the  Republic,  which  office  he  held 
until  1876,  when  Diaz  headed  another  rebellion,  which 
ended  as  a  revolution,  expelling  Lerdo  de  Tejada 
from  the  country.  Diaz  lost  no  time  in  entering  the 
City  of  Mexico,  and  had  himself  proclaimed  President 
the  same  year;  and,  the  next  year,  he  became  con- 
stitutional President,  which  office  he  held  until  the 
end  of  1880,  giving  way  to  Manuel  Gonzales,  who  had 
been  elected  to  succeed  him,  who,  in  his  turn,  was 
succeeded  by  Diaz  in  1884,  who  has  held  the  office 
continually  up  to  the  present  time,  1907. 

With  great  difficulty  do  I  restrain  myself  from  en- 
tering upon  a  review  of  the  civilization  of  the  ancient 


SOCIAL.  211 

Mexicans  and  their  kindred  races  in  America ;  but  this 
is  beyond  my  purpose,  and  the  subject  is,  also,  too 
extended,  although,  alas!  too  little  known,  yet  at  our 
door.  All  I  can  do  is,  to  briefly  call  attention  to  their 
arts,  particularly  the  arts  of  sculpture,  painting,  and 
writing,  the  perpetuation  of  ideas,  which  is  the  great- 
est art  among  mankind,  greater  than  the  production 
of  ideas,  having  risen  to  the  dignity  of  history;  their 
sculpture,  mythological,  religious,  statuary  and  scien- 
tific, preserved  to  us  in  stone,  which  the  fire  and  wrath 
of  the  Spaniards  could  not  consume,  although  they 
hid  much  of  it  by  burying  it  in  the  ground ;  their  tools 
and  implements  of  manufacture,  proving  the  existence 
of  trades,  callings  and  industries;  their  regular  forms 
of  government  embracing  the  most  enlightened  in- 
stitutions of  legislative,  judicial,  executive;  their 
well-organized,  disciplined  and  efficient  armies;  and, 
above  all,  their  social  system,  giving  full  protection  to 
every  member  of  the  community. 

These  ancient  people  did  not  go  to  the  foolish  ex- 
tent of  trying  to  make  all  men  equal,  which  is  no  more 
possible  than  to  make  all  numbers  from  one  to  a  hun- 
dred equal. 

We  have  not  yet  learned  that  all  men  are  not  born 
equal ;  and  hence  our  failure  in  trying  to  govern  by 
the  operation  of  a  wrong  principle ;  we  have  not  learned 
that  many  ancient  and  solemn  documents  were  ex- 
pedients of  the  moment,  thrown  off  in  great  haste  to 
meet  exigencies,  and  that  others  were  the  product  of 
deliberate  falsehood,  of  deception,  of  error,  of  interest, 
of  greed,  of  egotism;  yet  we  cling  to  the  ancient, 
because  we  know  not  the  modern,  believing  that  time 


212  MEXICO. 

sanctifies,  when  we  should  know  full  well  that  it  does 
nothing  but  destroy. 

Here,  again,  we  have  much  to  learn  from  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  ancient  Mexicans ;  that  a  good  govern- 
ment consists,  above  all  things,  in  keeping  the  people 
usefully  and  industriously  employed,  reaping  the  ben- 
efits of  their  own  labor,  allowing  none  to  be  idle,  and 
none  to  monopolize.  This  first  point  is  so  great,  that, 
if  it  does  not  embrace  all  others,  at  least  makes  them 
easy  of  attainment. 

With  us,  while  we  may  labor,  others  reap  the  ulti- 
mate harvest;  while  we  may  vote,  others  govern; 
while  we  may  hope,  others  realize;  and  we  are  thus 
only  the  instrument  and  means  of  the  few. 

If  a  low  scale  of  civilization  of  the  ancient  Mexicans 
be  inferred  from  the  severity  of  their  laws,  as  is  often 
objected,  I  want  to  ask  in  what  stage  of  civilization 
were  the  people,  who,  leaving  their  own  country  to 
obtain  religious  liberty,  enacted,  in  their  exile,  that 
"Whoever  shall  worship  any  other  god  than  the  Lord 
shall  surely  be  put  to  death,"  and  also  providing  the 
death  penalty  for  blasphemy,  sorcery,  adultery,  rape, 
and  an  outrage  offered  by  a  son  to  his  parents,  the 
nature  of  which  is  not  stated,  without  making  mention 
of  robbery,  arson,  treason,  manslaughter,  murder? 
The  death  penalty  was  also  to  be  inflicted  for  the  very 
"setting  foot  in  the  colony"  by  adherents  of  a  certain 
religion;  and  the  attendance  on  divine  worship  of 
the  established  faith  was  made  compulsory,  with  severe 
penalties  for  dereliction.  All  in  the  name  of  freedom 
of  conscience,  remember! 

Not  only  in  affairs  of  conscience,  but  in  those  of 


SOCIAL.  213 

taste  and  fashion  also,  the  individual  found  his  dis- 
position and  inclination  subjected  to  the  same  ideas 
of  liberty. 

Transcendentalism  could  issue  only  from  such  parent- 
age. 

I  had  the  great  good  fortune  of  seeing  some  of  the 
descendants  of  our  pilgrim  fathers  themselves  making 
a  pilgrimage  in  Mexico,  and  I  will  relate  somewhat 
about  it. 

While  I  was  in  the  museum  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
one  day,  a  noisy  party  of  about  thirty  Americans  passed 
through;  there  were  the  girls,  eating  sweets,  chewing 
gum,  laughing  loudly,  and  talking  shriekingly;  the 
mothers  following,  with  their  heads  close  together, 
conversing  in  a  low  tone,  indicative  of  the  spread  of 
intelligence;  and  the  men  in  business  suits,  with  cane, 
and  in  cloth,  with  spectacles,  closed  the  procession; 
for  procession,  indeed,  it  was,  because  on  the  contin- 
uous move,  the  subject  of  observation  by  others,  but 
themselves  seeing  nothing.  In  the  presence  of  the 
most  monumental  facts  in  human  history,  they  were 
entirely  impassive;  if  they  had  any  brains,  they  had 
not  been  cultivated  for  use;  their  health  seemed  per- 
fect ;  and,  if  they  were  traveling  for  pleasure,  they  were 
incurring  a  useless  expenditure;  because  they  could 
have  vegetated  in  their  stalls  at  home.  They  stopped 
before  nothing ;  they  saw  nothing. 

You  want  to  know  where  these  people  were  from? 
Well,  then,  I  will  tell  you,  because  I  had  the  same  cu- 
riosity to  know ;  and,  as  they  were  staying  at  the  same 
hotel  I  was,  I  examined  the  register  to  learn  that  they 
were  from  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Michigan. 


214  MEXICO. 

Before  you  smile  too  broadly,  please  reflect  what  the 
people  from  your  own  great  State  would  have  done 
under  like  circumstances;  and,  to  bring  it  home  still 
closer,  what  interest  you  yourself  might  have  taken. 

I  am  not  flattered  with  the  general  intelligence  of 
Americans  at  home;  and,  just  like  all  other  people, 
they  seem  to  have  less  sense  when  they  go  abroad. 

Many  of  the  native  Mexicans  visit  this  museum; 
and  I  remarked  with  what  peculiar  interest  they  stood 
before  these  monuments  of  their  ancestral  race,  which 
seemed  to  import  a  kind  of  veneration,  which  I  would 
not  deny  them. 

A  father  and  a  mother,  with  their  son  of  ten  and 
daughter  of  eight,  preceded  me,  walking  very  slowly, 
and  stopping  long  to  converse  before  certain  objects 
which  seemed  to  them  of  special  interest.  The  man 
was  shod  with  sandals;  the  wife  and  children  bare- 
foot. Their  surplus  clothing  was  a  wornout  blanket 
folded  and  lying  across  the  shoulder  of  the  father. 
They  were  almost  naked,  but  their  clothing,  if  clothing 
it  could  be  called,  was  clean.  I  had  before '  observed 
an  image  in  stone  of  a  toad,  with  opened  mouth,  and 
a  human  head  as  if  emerging  from  its  throat,  from 
which  I  had  only  gotten  the  idea  of  topsyturvy,  a 
man  in  your  throat.  Before  this,  a  stop  was  made, 
and  the  woman,  pressing  her  elbows  closely  against 
her  sides,  which  had  the  effect  of  slightly  elevating  the 
shoulders,  and,  with  her  hands  opened  wide,  extending 
downward  and  forward,  said  "Nativ — ."  This  woman 
understood  the  mythological  representation;  and  her 
attitude  and  gestures,  and  the  pronunciation  of  but 
a  portion  of  one  word,  explained  it  all  to  me  on  the 
instant.  Here  was  a  mythological  representation  of 


SOCIAL.  215 

the  origin  of  the  human  race,  the  toad  coming  from 
the  earth,  and  man  issuing  from  the  mouth  of  the  toad. 
The  interpretation  coming  to  me  as  it  had,  overwhelmed 
me  with  a  crushing  force;  but  curiosity  soon  roused 
me  to  inquiry.  Who  are  and  what  are  these  people? 
Where  did  they  come  from?  Where  do  they  live? 
What  is  their  mission  here?  How  could  I  make  their 
acquaintance?  How  could  I  have  them  to  instruct 
me?  Do  they  understand  all  these  mysteries?  Are 
they  keeping  up  the  traditions  ?  Are  they  instructing 
their  children  in  them?  My  perplexities  are  giving 
way  to  musings ;  the  closing  hour  is  struck ;  this  fam- 
ily leave  the  building,  while  I  stand  motionless,  as 
if  entranced,  until  a  guard  touches  my  arm,  calling 
my  attention  to  the  exit,  through  which  I  hurry;  but 
this  family  has  disappeared.  I  turn  to  walk  slowly 
to  my  hotel,  feeling,  at  the  same  time,  a  profound  ad- 
miration and  a  deep  sorrow  for  these  poor  and  unfor- 
tunate, oppressed  and  noble  people,  and  a  sense  of 
shame  for  my  own  dense  ignorance. 

These  people  were  of  excellent  stature,  dignified 
mien,  and  striking  intelligence;  and  who  knows  but 
that  they  were  the  family  upon  whom  should  now 
justly  rest  the  royal  purple  and  the  kingly  crown; 
or,  perhaps,  descendants  of  the  priesthood,  keeping 
alive  the  traditions  of  their  religion,  with  a  hope,  in 
either  case,  for  a  return  of  Justice,  by  resurrection  or 
incarnation,  to  the  world  to  which  she  has  been  dead 
so  many  years? 

For  those  not  in  a  position  to  know,  I  should  ex- 
plain the  word  "Nativ — ,"  else  my  statement  cannot 
be  understood  by  them.  The  entire  word  is  "Nativi- 
dad,"  nativity,  birth,  origin.  The  native  Mexicans 


216  MEXICO. 

are  in  the  habit  of  pronouncing  only  about  half   of 
long  words,  as  was  done  here. 

The  government  buildings,  prisons,  churches,  schools, 
theaters,  plazas,  and  the  numerous  places  where  legend 
has  entwined  a  thread  of  fancy,  or  crime  erected  an 
altar  of  horrors.  I  pass  rapidly  over,  and  will  continue 
respecting  the  national  museum,  almost  entirely  of  an 
anthropological  significance,  and,  I  imagine,  contain- 
ing the  most  valuable  collection  in  the  world.  A 
description  in  detail  of  the  things  to  be  seen  here  would 
require  a  large  volume;  and  I  will,  therefore,  mention 
only  a  few  of  the  most  important  features. 

Galleries  of  paintings,  historic  and  traditional,  re- 
ligious and  mythological;  many  photographs  repre- 
senting the  ancient  life  of  the  country,  its  ruins  of 
cities,  palaces  and  temples,  grand  even  in  decay; 
remains  of  the  arts  and  industries  of  these  ancient 
peoples;  their  instruments  of  death,  producing  the 
mournful  reflection  that  in  no  age  of  the  world  did  not 
men  murder  one  another ;  historic  relics  since  the  Con- 
quest; but,  above  all,  what  is  left  of  the  ancient  civ- 
ilization, industrial,  scientific,  religious. 

The  condition  of  every  boasted  civilization  seems  to 
be  that  it  is  less  excellent  than  those  more  humble 
and  less  pretentious;  and  this  is  particularly  true  as 
respects  Spain  and  Mexico  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest. 
Then,  Spain  could  only  murder  and  destroy ;  but  Mex- 
ico was  conserving  and  advancing.  Mexico's  industrial 
and  social  life  had  then  become  a  system,  while  Spain 
was  in  the  full  heat  of  consuming  madness,  with  which, 
also,  all  Europe  was,  at  that  time,  infected,  as  with  a 
long-standing  malady,  due  to  a  lack  of  stable  govern- 


SOCIAL.  217 

ments,  and  the  unlimited  indulgence  of  all  the  evil  pro- 
pensities of  human  nature,  excited  and  sustained  by 
corrupt  priests  and  a  bad  religion,  under  the  banner  of 
Conscience,  and  in  the  sacred  names  of  Truth  and 
Justice;  and,  what  is  still  more  awful,  to  sustain  the 
cause  of  an  omnipotent  God. 

In  scientific  advancement,  Mexico  doubtless  led  the 
world,  at  least  in  the  ascertainment  of  the  causes  of 
eclipses;  and,  having  arrived  at  this  fact,  the  true 
relations  of  the  solar  system  must  have  been  known 
to  them  also. 

This  fact  is  preserved  to  us  in  stone,  which  saved  it 
from  the  general  conflagration  to  which  the  Spaniards 
consigned  everything  that  would  burn. 

This  is  sufficient  for  me,  and  I  hasten  on,  not  even 
stopping  before  the  great  calendar  stone,  as  I  do  not 
desire  to  convince  those  who  would  require  more. 

At  the  base  of  the  hill  of  Chapultepec,  I  saw  hiero- 
glyphics cut  upon  the  rocks,  some  of  which  had  been 
blasted  away  as  if  to  destroy  or  carry  them  off;  but 
the  dislodged  fragments  were  lying  near  the  place.  I 
made  diligent  inquiry  about  this,  but  could  obtain  no 
information,  which  seemed  equally  as  strange  as  the 
existence  of  the  fact ;  and  I  reflected  how  that  the  like- 
ness of  Montezuma,  cut  on  the  solid  rock  of  a  moun- 
tain, had  been  destroyed  by  order  of  the  Mexican  gov- 
ernment, long  years  after  all  passion  should  have  dis- 
appeared even  from  the  most  savage  minds. 

Language  and  literature,  like  the  arts  and  the 
sciences,  bear  the  closest  relation  to  the  social  condition 
of  a  people ;  and  this  is  my  reason  for  giving  those  sub- 
jects here. 


218  MEXICO. 

Some  reason,  aside  from  the  strictly  historic  or 
scientific,  which  can  be  of  interest  or  benefit  to  but 
few,  should  exist;  and,  I  will  say,  some  practical  rea- 
son should  exist,  since  the  purely  educational  is  now 
a  failure,  for  the  learning  of  a  language,  even  a  living 
language,  saying  nothing  of  a  dead  one;  but  respect 
for  great  names  precludes  me  from  saying  anything 
about  the  educational  advantages  formerly  existing 
in  the  study  of  dead  languages. 

When  railway  communication  between  the  United 
States  and  the  City  of  Mexico  was  established,  some 
years  ago,  considerable  interest  was  manifest  for  a 
time  as  to  the  future  of  the  trade  relations  between 
these  two  countries,  of  which  the  study  of  the  Spanish 
language  was  only  one  phase. 

Being  then  somewhat  younger  and  more  ambitious 
than  now,  and  without  capital;  and,  like  all  young 
and  inexperienced  sailors,  mistaking  every  gust  for  a 
storm,  I  was  seriously  considering  the  advisability  of 
learning  the  Spanish  language  for  the  purpose  of  leav- 
ing port  on  the  first  vessel;  but,  before  the  time  for 
sailing,  a  dead  calm  set  in,  of  such  long  duration,  that 
the  only  thing  I  shipped  was  the  enterprise. 

My  idea,  thus  set  adrift,  flotsam,  jetsam,  ligan,  I 
know  not  where,  until  I  found  it  again  on  my  visit 
to  Mexico,  presenting  some  degree  of  brightness;  and 
I  set  about  at  once,  in  the  face  of  necessity,  without 
consideration,  to  learn  Spanish. 

I  first  bought  a  small  dictionary  and  some  still 
smaller  books  of  ready-made  Spanish  from  the  news- 
boy on  the  train  en  route;  and,  as  these  had  the  Eng- 
lish equivalent  placed  opposite  the  Spanish  in  every 
instance,  I,  of  course,  experienced  no  difficulty. 


SOCIAL.  219 

Knowing  more  about  the  Bible  than  my  accusers 
will  admit,  I  bought  a  copy  of  that  in  Spanish  as  soon 
as  I  could,  so  that  I  would  not  be  troubled  in  decipher- 
ing the  meaning  or  the  translation,  although  these 
things  have  sometimes  bothered  divines;  and,  to  my 
great  surprise,  I  could  read  and  understand  it  fairly 
well;  but  my  greatest  surprise  came,  when,  on  buy- 
ing a  newspaper,  I  found  I  could  read  and  compre- 
hend, particularly  the  press  dispatches,  about  as  well 
as  if  they  had  been  printed  in  English. 

I  also  secured  a  copy  of  Don  Quixote  in  Spanish, 
but  I  stumbled  over  this,  and  fell  very  hard,  although 
quite  familiar  with  the  work  in  its  English  dress. 

I  was  elated,  nevertheless,  but  another  surprise  of 
a  less  pleasant  kind  awaited  me ;  and  I  was  chagrined 
even,  when  hearing  conversation,  that  I  could  under- 
stand no  part  of  it;  but  recovering  from  this,  upon 
training  my  ear  to  the  sound,  as  my  eye  had  been, 
almost  without  effort  or  previous  preparation,  to  the 
form,  I  was  able,  before  long,  to  get  the  run  of  an 
ordinary  conversation. 

But  I  could  not  talk.  "See"  and  "wano"  did  not 
sound  much  as  "si"  and  "bueno"  looked;  but  I  gave 
myself  diligently  to  the  task,  and  learned  to  speak  a 
little  Spanish  before  leaving  the  country. 

This  statement,  however,  is  somewhat  misleading; 
and,  perhaps  I  should  explain,  that  the  Spanish  spoken 
in  Mexico  bears  about  the  same  relation  to  the  Spanish 
proper  as  Pennsylvania  Dutch  does  to  Old  High  Ger- 
man, so  that  a  Spaniard  at  first  finds  much  difficulty 
in  understanding;  and,  had  I  learned  the  real  Spanish 
at  the  time  I  first  considered  the  idea,  and  gone  lisp- 


220  MEXICO. 

ing  into  Mexico,  I  would  have  encountered  about  the 
same  difficulty. 

I  know  some  Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  German, 
and  a  little  English,  and  this  was  the  reason  for  my 
knowing  some  Spanish  in  advance,  so  to  speak,  as 
these  languages  have  all  a  common  origin  and  many 
similarities;  but  Spanish,  I  think,  is  the  poorest  of 
all  the  Aryan  languages,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  ex- 
press a  judgment  from  history  and  results,  as  I  cer- 
tainly cannot  from  a  philological  standpoint.  It  is  poor 
in  its  forms  of  expression,  and  still  poorer  in  the  num- 
ber of  its  words,  many  of  which  must  do  duty,  like 
the  servants  of  the  pretentious  rich,  from  the  stables 
to  the  drawing-room;  and,  while  they  may  change 
their  livery,  yet  cannot  rid  themselves  of  unpleasant 
odors,  and  sometimes  of  uncouth  or  obscene  associ- 
ations. To  those  who  know  Spanish,  I  do  not  need, 
and  to  those  who  do  not,  I  cannot,  explain. 

The  Spanish  has  kept  pace  with  the  times  by  addi- 
tions taken  bodily  from  the  French,  much  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  became  a  cultured  language  by  also  taking  from, 
or,  more  properly,  mixing  with,  the  French,  so  that 
the  English  of  today  is  French  in  substance  but  Anglo- 
Saxon  in  form.  The  same  is  happening  to  the  Spanish, 
and  the  constant  and  many  additions  will  soon,  if  not 
even  now,  become  so  numerous  as  to  change  the  blend 
to  a  color.  The  Spanish  have  taken  the  sensible  course 
by  adopting  the  French  words  without  any  change; 
but  the  English,  by  reason  of  a  national  pride  and  a 
universal  hatred  for  the  French,  have  had  to  change 
at  least  one  letter  from  the  original  form  of  the  French 
before  adopting  it,  and  turning  it  loose  with  this  ear- 
mark to  browse  in  the  woods  of  English  literature. 


SOCIAL.  221 

I  imagine  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Spanish, 
before  either  began  to  take  from  the  French,  would 
bear  comparison  as  to  condition.  The  French  lan- 
guage is  the  great  storehouse  from  which  almost  all 
the  other  European  languages  have  been,  for  a  long 
time,  taking,  but  not  without  an  unjustifiable  and 
unreasonable  grumble,  perhaps  to  make  pretentious 
the  preying  of  their  indigency  upon  generosity. 

In  its  origin,  the  Spanish  owes  much  to  the  Latin, 
but  I  imagine  not  so  much  as  is  usually  claimed.  We 
know,  in  the  early  stage  of  a  language,  and  partic- 
ularly before  it  is  written,  or  only  to  a  small  extent, 
that  the  influence  of  foreign  nations,  tribes  or  hordes, 
to  use  the  word  expressive  of  the  movement  of  peoples 
in  early  and  medieval  Europe,  is  very  great  in  modi- 
fying or  entirely  changing  the  language  of  a  country; 
and  I  believe  that,  in  view  of  the  many  nations,  tribes, 
hordes,  inhabiting  what  is  now  the  territory  of  Spain, 
they  must  have  left  many  lasting  impressions  not  only 
upon  the  language,  but  the  people  as  well,  now  in- 
habiting that  country;  and  I  further  believe  that 
whatever  influence  the  Latin  has  exercised  in  that 
country  has  been  indirect  by  way  of  France. 

Of  those  competent  to  judge,  I  ask  for  a  consider- 
ation of  the  influence  of  the  Greek  at  Rome  as  com- 
pared with  the  Latin  in  Castile. 

If  we  must  concede  that  the  Spanish  is  a  descend- 
ant of  the  Latin,  we  must  likewise  concede  that  it  is 
sporadic. 

The  pleasant,  flowing  music  of  the  Spanish  is  its 
only  redeeming  feature,  but  its  scale  is  contracted, 
and  one  soon  tires. 

The  future  of  Spanish  in  Spain  is  toward  the  French 


222  MEXICO. 

until  extinction  is  reached;  and,  in  Mexico,  as  well 
as  in  all  the  western  continent,  it  must  give  way  to 
the  English.  Beyond  this,  the  prophets  are  dumb, 
and  the  oracles  give  it  over  to  Fate.  The  present 
drift  of  all  the  European  languages  is  toward  the 
French;  but  what  is  more  capricious  and  uncertain 
than  drift? 

Following  language,  is  its  record  evidence,  litera- 
ture. What  I  do  not  know  about  Spanish  literature 
would  make  many  English  books;  but  I  can,  at  least, 
boast  that  I  saw  the  covers,  and  was  edified  by  the 
titles  of  the  volumes  containing  it.  In  the  public 
library  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  I  saw  a  large  collection 
of  books  of  the  sizes,  and,  in  appearance,  showing 
about  the  ordinary  wear  and  tear,  of  books  to  be  seen 
in  the  city  libraries  in  the  United  States.  I  next 
mention  the  private  library  of  a  lawyer,  of  miscel- 
laneous books,  about  3000  in  number,  at  one  of  the 
state  capitals,  all  new,  magnificently  bound  and  let- 
tered, and  a  real  picture  hi  appearance.  Books  are 
my  hobby,  and  I  felt  envious,  when  I  thought  of  my 
small,  ragged,  battered  and  tattered  collection.  Lastly, 
I  saw  the  collection  in  the  national  palace  or  museum, 
filling  a  room  about  60x30,  magnificent  volumes  these, 
such  as  are  not  now  printed.  One  volume  in  the 
museum  proper  was  spread  out,  and  it  measured  six 
feet  from  tip  to  tip,  about  half  that  in  the  other  di- 
mension, and  it  was  nearly  a  foot  thick.  I  do  not 
know  whether  to  say  Monstrous!  with  an  exclamation, 
or  Monstrosity,  with  a  period;  but,  perhaps,  I  had 
better  use  both,  and  call  it  a  monstrous  monstrosity. 
How  much  more  might  not  Confucius  have  expressed 


SOCIAL.  223 

by  a  few  flourishes  of  his  quill  than  all  this  book  con- 
tained ! 

I  saw  a  few  hundred  old  and  second-hand  books  for 
sale  at  the  Thieves'  Market;  and,  otherwise,  I  saw 
nothing  to  be  called  a  library  or  collection  of  books  in 
Mexico;  but  a  few  religious  books  are  to  be  found  in 
most  houses.  I  had  often  heard  of  bookworms;  but 
I  had  never  seen  the  real,  or  anything  I  ever  took  for 
the  metaphorical,  species.  My  curiosity  was  gratified 
at  the  Thieves'  Market,  and  I  purchased  a  book,  rid- 
dled with  holes,  like  a  piece  of  wood  gone  to  dry-rot, 
the  painstaking  work  of  the  reality. 

The  contents  of  these  books  is  what  I  mostly  do  not 
know.  I  have  read  both  Prescott  and  Irving,  each  of 
whom  says  many  things,  in  particular,  about  the  con- 
tents of  Spanish  books,  incidental  to  the  handling  of 
the  matters  they  had  in  mind ;  about  Spanish  authors ; 
and,  sometimes,  in  general,  about  Spanish  literature. 
I  have  also  carefully  examined  a  history  of  Spanish 
literature  by  Tichnor;  but,  aside  from  Don  Quixote, 
I  never  read  any  Spanish  work;  and  this  is  the  only 
Spanish  work  I  ever  saw  translated  into  English.  I 
see,  from  an  examination  of  the  books  themselves, 
that  most  of  them  are  printed  in  Paris. 

I  do  know,  however,  from  general  reading,  that 
Spanish  literature,  both  as  to  quantity  and  quality,  is 
far  below  the  general  average  for  the  European  coun- 
tries. 

As  to  Mexican  literature,  I  cannot  say  that  such  a 
thing  exists,  as  neither  in  the  bookstores  nor  on  the 
trains  did  I  see  any  productions  of  Mexicans. 

This  statement  is  made  from  the  evidence  of  what  I 


224  MEXICO. 

did  not  see,  as  I  did  not  examine  a  catalogue  of  the 
publications  of  the  country,  if  such  a  thing  is  in  ex- 
istence. 

The  trash,  now  met  with  everywhere,  was  mainly 
translations  from  the  French;  but  one  of  Spanish 
authorship,  which  I  will  rename  "The  Bull  and  the 
Maiden,"  particularly  attracted  my  attention.  These 
two  animals  seem,  as  much  now  as  ever  before,  to  hold 
the  center  in  Spanish  romance. 

These  books,  as  with  us,  are  well  bound  in  showy 
covers,  conspicuously  lettered;  and,  until  recently, 
have  been  selling  from  $1.50  to  $2.50,  from  which  a 
lady,  on  account  of  the  great  variety  of  bindings, 
could  always  find  one  to  harmonize  with  her  complex- 
ion, or  dress;  but  automobiles  are  now  the  only  fad, 
so  that  the  price  has  slumped  to  the  general  level  of 
50  cents. 

I  distinctly  remember,  when  I  used  to  read,  in  the 
haymow  at  home,  this  same  class  of  literature,  but  of 
a  much  better  quality,  bound  in  yellow  paper,  price 
ten  cents;  it  was  then  universally  called  "yellowback 
literature,"  which  name  long  since  disappeared  with 
the  thing,  and  I  had  forgotten  that  yellow  had  ever 
been  used  to  designate  any  kind  of  literature  until 
"yellow  journalism"  has  become  so  popular. 

Why  I  used  the  haymow  as  a  reading-room  I  do  not 
propose  to  tell,  but  it  is  well  known  to  all  contemporary 
boys  of  that  age.  The  world  has  progressed  so  since 
then,  and  the  haymow  is  now  in  the  house.  What  we 
then  thought  hardly  good  enough  for  the  haymow  is 
now  standard  for  the  library.  Such  is  the  elevation 
of  authorship.  Let  no  one  here  mourn  his  fate. 


SOCIAL.  225 

The  Mexicans  possess  great  ingenuity  and  mechan- 
ical skill,  as  shown  by  the  practice  of  those  small  arts 
and  industries  which  their  poverty  will  permit. 

Drawn-work,  of  geometrical  designs,  and  needle- 
work, I  mention  first,  because  so  well  known  in  the 
United  States  from  the  importations  into  this  coun- 
try. 

At  Aguas  Calientes,  the  headquarters  for  this  work, 
I  bought,  for  $4,  a  spread,  which,  at  our  rate  of  wages 
in  the  United  States,  could  not  be  made  for  $50,  and 
yet  I  had  the  effrontery  to  jew  down  a  dollar  the  poor 
woman  who  sold  it  to  me,  as  she  wanted  $5;  but, 
such  is  the  instinct  of  trade;  if  offered  gold  dollars  for 
thirty  cents,  we  would  bid  only  twenty-five. 

I  need  only  mention  the  artistic  weave  of  the  costly 
Navajo  blanket,  as  an  illustration  of  what  these  people 
can  do  in  that  line,  as  this  art  doubtless  originated  in 
Mexico. 

The  sombrero  I  also  consider  a  great  work  of  art, 
as  it  is  a  great  vanity  among  them. 

Their  paintings  are  not  along  the  platitudes  of  Italy, 
nor  the  disproportions  of  the  grand  old  masters,  nor 
yet  the  overwrought  productions  of  our  own  times, 
but  are  art,  genuine  art,  that  art  expressive,  not  sup- 
pressive,  of  idea ;  that  pleasing  propriety  in  the  adap- 
tation of  form  and  color,  awakening  a  train  of  recollec- 
tions, which  is  the  only  art, — all,  however,  on  a  small 
scale,  painted  on  a  spoon,  a  bit  of  cloth,  a  chip  of  wood. 

I  have  both  a  contempt  and  a  pity  for  those  people 
who  can  see  art  only  in  immensity,  extravagance,  and 
cost.  As  I  have  been  going  through  the  world,  I  have 
made  some  collections  of  works  of  art  myself;  and  I 
have  spent  as  much  as  ten  cents  for  some,  which  I 


220  MEXICO. 

would  not  trade,  if  art  be  the  standard,  for  some  others 
I  have  seen,  said  to  have  cost  over  $100,000.  Who 
has  not  experienced,  in  the  scrawlings  of  a  child,  the 
awakening  of  a  greater  and  more  pleasant  train  of 
thought  than  on  the  easel  of  the  artist? 

Mexican  sculpture,  if  its  humble  condition  would 
permit  the  name,  and  image-making,  are  almost  ex- 
clusively confined  to  statuettes,  which  are  as  distinc- 
tive and  expressive  as  their  paintings. 

Writing,  painting,  sculpture,  music,  are  the  only 
means  of  recording  thought;  and,  if  no  thought  is 
expressed  in  the  record,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
none  can  be  extracted  from  it,  of  what  use  is  the  record, 
no  matter  how  costly? 

1  do  not  know  what  the  laws  in  Mexico  are  respecting 
education;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  this  article,  I  am 
glad  I  do  not,  as  I  am  going  to  speak  only  of  results, 
or,  more  properly,  what  I  observed. 

In  extenuation  or  apology  for  this  method  of  pur- 
suing my  subject,  I  will  merely  ask  the  question,  How 
many  people  in  the  United  States,  even  among  those 
who  ought  to  know,  actually  do  know  the  laws  of  their 
own  State  on  educational  matters? 

And,  further,  if  I  wrote  from  a  standpoint  of  the  laws, 
I  am  afraid  I  might  be  far  wide  of  the  results,  or  what 
is  to  be  seen  as  the  effect  of  those  laws. 

If  one  were  to  write  the  history  of  Greece,  having 
before  him  the  laws  and  philosophic  writings  of  Solon 
and  Lycurgus,  looking  for  the  results  of  their  operation, 
expecting  to  find  their  exemplification  in  the  acts  of 
the  people,  he  would  soon  find  that  he  had  begun  at 
the  wrong  end  of  his  story,  and  that  he  should  have 


SOCIAL.  227 

begun  with  Greece,  and  have  written  in  Solon  and 
Lycurgus  at  their  own  proper  places. 

If  one  were  also  to  refer  to  conditions  at  home,  and 
especially  to  those  closely  connected  with  morals  and 
the  social  state,  religion,  the  dispensation  of  intoxicants 
and  the  injurious  drugs,  and  the  nuisances  generally, 
not  even  a  philosopher,  though  acute  as  Volney  or 
Guizot,  could  recognize,  from  our  laws,  our  system  as 
practiced. 

That  bulwark  of  education  and  liberty,  a  country 
school,  I  nowhere  saw,  and  I  believe  it  does  not  exist; 
the  villages  and  smaller  towns  are  also  without  ed- 
ucation facilities;  but,  when  a  population  of  about 
5000  is  reached,  a  primary  school  is  usually  found  in 
a  building  connected  with  the  principal  church  build- 
ing of  the  place.  I  say  principal  church  building,  be- 
cause, in  towns  or  cities  of  this  size,  not  less  than  three 
churches,  in  most  instances,  are  found,  seldom  two, 
and  very  rarely  one;  and  any  one  of  these  church 
buildings  is  ordinarily  worth  more,  or  rather  represents 
a  greater  expenditure  of  money,  than  all  the  other 
property  of  the  place,  excepting  the  remaining  church 
property. 

In  these  schools,  the^sexes  are  separated,  the  boys 
and  the  girls  occupying  separate  rooms,  which  I  much 
approve,  wherever  practicable,  as  a  general  plan;  be- 
cause I  believe  in  raising  boys  boys  and  girls  girls,  and 
not  trying  to  either  level  or  extinguish  what  nature 
has  so  sharply  distinguished.  In  country  schools  and 
in  those  of  small  towns,  the  separation  of  the  sexes 
is  impracticable,  but  I  see  no  reason  for  not  doing 
so  in  the  larger  towns  and  cities,  where  the  course  of 
education  is  more  extended,  and  the  time  of  associ- 


228  MEXICO. 


ation  of  the  two  sexes  longer;  and,  in  this,  I  am  sure 
that  no  one  who  has  diligently  watched  the  progress 
of  pupils,  in  the  graded  schools  to  the  graduation  in 
the  high-schools,  can  consistently  differ  in  opinion; 
but,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  do  differ  from  me  in 
opinion  on  this  subject,  and  they  are  very  numerous, 
I  will  cite  two  instances,  within  my  own  personal 
knowledge,  of  the  graduating  class  from  high-schools : 
in  one,  a  class  of  forty,  five  girls,  during  the  closing 
year,  became  enciente  by  boys  of  the  same  class ;  and, 
in  the  other,  three  out  of  a  class  of  eighteen.  While 
this  proportion  does  not  exist  in  every  case,  and  cer- 
tainly we  all  know  of  many  instances  where  nothing 
of  the  kind  has  happened,  yet  we  all  know  of  instances 
where  it  has  happened;  and  we  of  mature  experience 
also  mournfully  know  that  the  proportion  of  5  to  40 
and  3  to  18  does  not,  in  all  probability,  represent  the 
correct  proportion  of  actual  derelictions. 

If  my  position  on  this  question  is  correct,  then  we 
can  easily  see  that  Mexico,  in  one  particular  at  least, 
is  ahead  of  the  United  States  in  educational  matters. 

The  pupils  of  these  schools  are  all  mere  children, 
from  which  I  infer  that  the  school  age  is  very  limited. 

I  sauntered  up  close  to  some  of  these  schoolrooms 
to  find  out  what  was  going  on,  and  they  were  all  study- 
ing out  loud,  which  very  forcibly  reminded  me  of 
what  our  fathers  and  grandfathers  have  told  us  about 
the  happenings  in  the  old  log  schoolhouses  of  colonial 
and  post-colonial  days;  and  I  imagine  that  these 
Mexican  schools  are  about  on  a  par  with  those,  both 
as  to  methods  and  extent  of  education. 

I  think  we  would  enjoy  a  very  great  treat,  if,  in  our 
own  schools,  we  would  set  aside  a  day,  preferably  at  the 


SOCIAL.  229 

end  of  the  term,  when  study  and  recitation  might  pro- 
ceed by  the  old  regime,  and  under  the  direction  of  one 
of  the  oldest  citizens.  We  would  thus,  not  only  be 
repeating  history,  but  animating  patriotism  as  well, 
that  virtue  which  has  now  but  little  life  among  us,  or 
is  measured  solely  by  money  or  interest. 

At  Valparaiso,  I  saw  a  school  for  girls,  which,  judging 
from  the  size  and  apparent  age  of  the  pupils,  I  assumed 
corresponded  to  our  high-school  age  in  the  United 
States,  but  I  know  nothing  of  the  course  of  study ;  at 
Zacatecas,  I  saw  a  college  for  females,  the  students 
being  woman-grown,  and  perhaps  all  over  twenty 
years  of  age,  the  course  of  study  unknown  also;  and 
at  Aguas  Calientes,  I  saw  a  school  of  arts  and  sciences 
of  the  pretensions  of  our  colleges  and  universities  in 
the  United  States.  Judging  from  external  appear- 
ances, I  think  I  am  justified  in  giving  these  three  insti- 
tutions as  representatives  of  their  class. 

What  I  have  heretofore  said  applies  to  the  country 
outside  the  City  of  Mexico  itself,  which  is  metropolitan, 
and  bears,  I  imagine,  about  the  same  relation  to  the 
country  at  large  as  did  Thebes,  and  at  a  later  date, 
Alexandria  to  Egypt,  Babylon  to  Asia  Minor,  Athens 
to  Greece,  Rome  to  Italy,  which  relation  can  be  best 
appreciated,  when  we  remember  that  the  names  of 
those  cities  stood,  not  only  for  the  country,  but  for 
the  government  also. 

I  will  not  undertake  the  task  even  to  give  a  catalogue 
of  the  educational  institutions  in  the  city,  which  would 
be  as  barren  of  interest  as  it  would  be  unprofitable, 
and  I  am  writing  neither  a  guidebook  nor  an  itinerary. 
All  that  is  conveyed  in  the  expression  metropolitan 
city  needs  a  single,  but  a  very  important,  modification, 


230  MEXICO. 

that  no  general  educational  system  for  the  children 
is  in  operation,  which  leaves  the  people  at  large  in  the 
same  deplorable  state  of  ignorance  as  everywhere  else 
prevalent  in  the  country.  If  any  laws  for  general  ed- 
ucation exist  in  the  city,  the  effects  of  their  operation 
certainly  are  not  to  be  seen  or  their  influence  felt. 

I  observed  a  certain  parade  not  now  to  be  seen  in  the 
United  States,  which  I  will  illustrate  by  saying  that 
in  one  of  the  larger  cities,  at  Guadalajara,  in  fact,  I 
saw,  walking  up  and  down  one  of  the  plazas,  a  college 
young  man,  deeply  buried  in  an  old  Greek  text,  which 
he  held  quite  conspicuously.  As  he  had  no  grammar 
nor  dictionary  nor  "pony,"  and,  as  he  turned  the 
leaves  with  no  degree  of  regularity,  I  felt  sure  it  was 
all  for  show,  and  that  he  did  not  know  whether  he 
was  anabasis  or  katabasis;  and  I  also  thought  how 
many  things  not  Greek  did  he  not  know! 

The  parade  of  learning  by  students  once  existed  hi 
the  United  States,  but  that  has  now  passed  away,  and 
not  even  books  are  required  as  a  sign  of  their  occu- 
pation, unless  they  be  books  on  sports  and  athletics; 
and  students  would  feel  themselves  as  much  ashamed 
or  humiliated  to  find  themselves  encumbered  with  a 
load  of  books  as  you  would  to  be  caught  carrying 
home  from  the  butcher's,  unwrapped,  a  sheep's  head 
or  some  pigs'  feet.  If  the  Dunciad  is  not  now  to  carry 
our  books,  certainly  there  is  no  other  ass  to  do  it. 

Only  a  small  proportion,  perhaps  one  or  two  per- 
cent, of  the  people  of  Mexico  can  read  and  write,  and 
these  attainments  constitute  almost  their  sole  stock 
of  learning;  but,  lack  of  education,  as  most  of  us 
have  observed,  brightens  the  mind,  by  giving  an  un- 
due prominence  to  those  faculties  which  grow  by  their 


SOCIAL.  231 

exercise  independently  of  a  systematic  education ;  and 
we,  at  least  I,  have  often  met  men,  altogether  unlet- 
tered, whose  minds  I  would  like  to  take  in  exchange 
for  my  own,  if  that  were  possible. 

Education  is,  therefore,  seen  to  have  its  losses. 

Having  given  a  world-view  and  a  race-view,  I  now 
come  to  those  things  constituting  the  everyday  social 
life  of  the  people  in  their  immediate  relation  to  one 
another;  and  I  will  begin  with  Crime. 

I  cannot  believe  that  crime  among  the  native  Mexi- 
cans is  at  all  as  prevalent  as  claimed  by  the  Spanish- 
Mexicans;  and  I  will  give  an  example:  At  Puruan- 
diro,  a  city  said  to  contain  7782  people,  I  examined 
the  list  of  arrests  and  prosecutions  .for  one  month,  in 
what  would  correspond  to  our  police  courts  in  the 
United  States;  and  found  the  number  to  be  179,  a 
great  many  of  which  were  for  "Failure  of  respect,"  a 
crime  against  public  decency,  the  remainder  covering 
the  ordinary  petty  crimes  common  to  all  cities.  The 
highest  fine  imposed  was  $10,  and  the  lowest  61  cents. 
Nearly  all  these  convictions  were  for  what  we  would 
call  misdemeanors.  This  did  not  look  very  criminal 
to  me;  but  I  recognize  full  well  the  danger  of  draw- 
ing conclusions  from  statistics,  as  nothing  seems  to 
be  more  uncertain  than  moral  conditions  assumed 
from  figures. 

Petty  thieving  is  notorious,  but  the  propensity  seems 
to  stop  short  of  robbery,  or  horse-stealing,  or  bank- 
breaking.  Drunkenness  is  very  prevalent  in  the  towns 
and  cities,  but  I  regard  that  as  rather  a  moral  than 
a  political  or  statutory  crime.  Murder  and  highway 
robbery  had  been  very  prevalent,  so  much  so,  that 


232  MEXICO. 

no  one  was  safe,  until  the  department  of  the  Rurales 
in  the  army  was  created,  which  is  made  up  of  these 
outlaws,  who  are  Spanish-Mexicans.  Now,  the  coun- 
try is  perfectly  safe  to  travel. 

I  was  much  surprised  at  the  humane  manner  in 
which  the  police  arrested  and  handled  their  prisoners ; 
and  our  police  in  the  United  States  might  take  les- 
sons there  every  day  in  humanity,  if  they  have  not  al- 
together passed  that  grade. 

I  will  give  an  instance:  I  saw  a  policeman  arrest 
a  drunken  man,  an  old  man,  in  that  stage  of  intoxi- 
cation, when  he  was,  at  once,  boisterous,  insolent, 
mean,  stubborn,  and  funny.  An  American  police- 
man would  have  hit  him  on  the  head  with  his  club, 
notwithstanding  his  pitiful  age,  and  called  the  patrol 
wagon;  but  the  Mexican  policeman  talked  and  joked 
with  him,  all  the  time  moving  in  the  proper  direction ; 
and,  before  the  fellow  was  aware  of  what  was  going 
to  happen,  he  was  behind  the  bars,  where  he  would 
be  given  a  good  chance  to  sober  up,  and  later,  work 
out  his  fine  on  the  streets. 

I  cannot  believe  that  men  who  can  be  humane  as 
policemen  can  be  guilty  of  all  the  crimes  laid  to  the 
doors  of  the  native  Mexicans  by  the  Spanish-Mexi- 
cans. 

Police-court  crimes,  so  far  as  I  could  observe,  are 
punished  by  imprisonment  in  a  city  jail  and  by  work 
on  the  streets  or  for  the  city. 

Capital  crimes  are  punished  by  death,  but  I  have 
forgotten  whether  by  hanging  or  shooting,  although 
I  have  the  impression  that  the  criminal  is  shot. 

A  great  many  of  those  guilty  of  what  we  commonly 
call  penitentiary  offenses  in  the  United  States  are  al- 


SOCIAL.  233 

lowed  to  serve  their  time  as  soldiers  in  the  army,  a 
most  vicious  and  demoralizing  scheme,  because  a 
country's  soldiers  should  always  be  recruited  from 
among  its  best  citizens.  Whatever  the  necessities  of 
warfare  may  be,  convicts  and  hirelings  should  never 
be  found  in  any  army  in  the  time  of  peace.  One  can 
forgive  his  antagonist,  but  can  never  forgive  or  for- 
get a  hireling.  To  me  the  word  Hessian  sounds  the 
most  repulsive  in  language;  and  a  hundred  years 
after  the  Revolution,  in  that  part  of  the  country  where 
I  was  born  and  raised,  no  greater  contempt  can  yet 
be  shown  a  man  than  to  call  him  a  Hessian.  The 
British  could  be  forgiven,  but  the  Hessians  never. 

Our  system  of  criminal  procedure  is  founded  on 
wealth,  upon  aristocracy,  which  allows  the  man  of 
means,  when  arrested,  to  furnish  bail,  or  to  be  dis- 
charged on  his  own  recognizance,  as  the  phrase  goes, 
to  appear  at  his  trial,  while  the  man  without  friends 
or  means,  although  innocent,  must  go  to  jail,  and 
there  await  his  trial.  Pending  the  trial,  the  man  of 
means  may  remove  to  another  state  or  country,  and 
thus  free  himself  from  the  consequences  of  conviction. 
When  the  trial  is  reached,  the  man  of  means  may 
have  a  great  array  of  legal  lights,  reflecting  the  majesty 
of  the  law  in  the  eyes  of  the  judge,  or  a  battery  of  big 
guns  booming  in  his  ears,  or  both;  "And  the  court, 
being  fully  advised,  doth  find  and  adjudge"  in  his 
case,  upon  the  authority  of  his  counsel;  while  the 
man  without  means,  throwing  himself  on  the  mercy 
of  the  court,  without  counsel,  and,  although  inno- 
cent, is  often  found  guilty,  as  the  easiest  way  of  recon- 
ciling his  case  with  his  misfortune.  When  the  man 
of  means  is  convicted,  he  may  pay  a  fine,  and  pass 


234  MEXICO. 

immediately  into  the  best  society,  but  from  which  he 
had,  indeed,  not  departed;  and,  when  the  man  with- 
out means  has  been  found  guilty,  although  innocent, 
he  must  languish  in  jail,  losing  health  and  spirit  and 
honor,  to  be  ever  afterward  regarded  with  suspicion, 
and  stamped  with  disgrace. 

So  where  is  our  boasted  equal  protection  of  the  laws  ? 

The  granting  of  franchises  for  the  performance  of 
particular  acts  or  the  conduct  of  a  business  has  be- 
come a  widespread  and  crying  evil,  as  well  as  a  great 
crime  against  society,  of  which  every  one  calls  to 
mind  numerous  instances,  to  the  unequal  advantage 
of  men  of  money,  in  this  case,  and,  generally,  to  the 
detriment  of  all  the  community.  More  evils  and  mo- 
nopolies are  now  created  among  us,  and  crimes  com- 
mitted, by  this  method  than  by  the  kings  of  Europe 
by  their  letters  patent  during  the  sixteenth  century, 
that  century  of  unlimited  monarchy  and  universal 
loot. 

Prison  discipline  in  Mexico  is  such  that  a  man  does 
not  care  to  get  twice  in  the  toils  of  the  law ;  and,  while 
the  prisoners  are  not  cruelly  treated,  yet  they  are 
punished  in  fact  by  what  they  are  required  to  do. 

In  the  United  States,  punishment  for  crime  has 
always  fallen  short  of  its  purpose;  and  our  system 
is  an  unqualified  failure;  yet  everybody  knows  how 
to  run,  not  only  the  systems  of  crimes  and  punish- 
ments in  China  and  Russia,  but  those  governments  in 
detail  as  well. 

In  Mexico,  marriage  is  now,  and  for  some  years  past 
has  been,  a  civil  institution,  the  law  prescribing  that 


SOCIAL.  235 

only  certain  civil  officers  shall  solemnize  it;  that  a 
public  record  shall  be  kept  of  it;  and  that  children 
must  be  registered  in  the  same  office. 

This,  however,  while  the  general  law  of  the  country, 
is  not  always  done;  and  I  was  told  that  only  about 
one-tenth  of  the  marriages  were  legal;  but  my  own 
investigations  showed  that  the  proportion  of  legal 
marriages  was  even  less  than  one-tenth. 

This  means  that  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the  con- 
jugal unions  of  Mexico  are  illegal,  and  that  the  off- 
spring of  such  unions  are  not  entitled  to  inherit  from 
their  parents;  but  they  lose  nothing,  because  their 
parents  have  nothing  to  leave  to  them,  except  the 
heritage  of  poverty. 

I  am  speaking,  in  this  particular,  of  the  natives,  as 
the"  descendants  of  the  Spaniards  marry  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  country. 

The  church,  therefore,  has  no  power  to  perform  the 
marriage  ceremony;  but  those  who  have  a  conscience 
in  the  matter  have  both  the  civil  and  the  church  cere- 
mony performed. 

The  illegal  marriages  of  the  natives  are  performed 
mostly  by  the  priest;  but,  in  some  instances,  I  was 
told,  the  ceremonies  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  are  still 
in  vogue;  and,  as  anything  short  of  the  fulfillment 
of  the  requirements  of  the  general  law  of  the  country 
is  illegal,  these  aboriginal  ceremonies  are  quite  as 
good  as  those  of  the  church. 

Some  tales  are  told  about  these  aboriginal  cere- 
monies which  do  not  bear  repetition  in  print;  and, 
not  possessing  information,  and  I  hope  not  experi- 
ence, to  confirm  or  confute,  I  will  refer  those  who  feel 
much  pride  in  the  dignity  of  their  Christian  sacra- 


236  MEXICO. 

ment  to  the  first  five  centuries  of  our  era,  in  which 
they  may  examine  the  history  of  this  institution; 
and,  if  they  are  not  abundantly  satisfied,  they  may 
add  the  sixth  century,  and  all  others,  indeed,  down 
to  about  the  twelfth,  if  their  thirst  for  information 
on  this  subject  seems  insatiable. 

What  I  want  to  convey  is,  that  central  and  western 
Europe  had  better  hang  their  heads  pretty  low,  and 
say  nothing  while  other  people  are  making  sport  about 
social  customs  and  practices. 

Among  us,  I  mean  the  Europeans  and  their  de- 
scendants in  America,  the  institution  of  marriage  has 
taken  the  other  course,  being  altogether  a  civil  con- 
tract until  Pope  Innocent  III  made  it  a  sacrament, 
as  the  legal  works  on  the  marriage  contract  inform  us. 

Divorces,  none. 

With  kind  regards  to  the  United  States,  Canada 
and  Europe. 

Well,  what  do  you  think  about  it,  because  you 
know? 

I  must  be  understood  to  be  speaking  about  the 
native  Mexicans,  as  I  know  nothing  about  this  phase 
of  the  social  life  of  the  descendants  of  the  Spaniards 
in  Mexico,  who  make  up,  I  think,  about  two  percent 
of  the  population  of  the  country,  and  surely  not  to 
exceed  five  percent.  I  could  not  learn,  and  I  did 
not  have  time  to  examine  the  court  records;  but,  if 
court  records  in  Mexico  in  divorce  cases  conform  no 
closer  to  the  fact  than  our  own,  I  could  not  have  se- 
cured any  information  as  to  the  true  state  of  affairs, 
except  as  to  the  number  only  of  the  cases  pending 
and  decided. 


SOCIAL.  237 

The  facts  regarding  the  social  condition  of  a  people, 
or  even  a  small  community,  are  most  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  obtain,  by  personal  inquiry. 

For  instance,  let  the  liquor  question  be  agitating  a 
town,  and  about  half  the  people  you  meet  will  tell 
you  that  you  could  not  get  a  drink  of  whisky  for  love 
or  money;  that  the  town  is  absolutely  dry;  and  they 
will  enlarge  on  the  questions  of  morals;  that  the 
town  is  so  clean;  no  gambling  now;  no  bad  women; 
no  temptation  to  the  young:  while  the  other  half 
will  tell  you  that  all  kinds  of  drinks  can  be  bought 
everywhere,  and  they  volunteer  to.  take  you  and 
show  you;  that  now  even  children  patronize  these 
places;  that  the  criminal  occupations  only  known  in 
cities  are  now  most  open  and  shamelessly  pursued. 

These  opposite  and  inconsistent  statements  leave 
you  just  where  you  commenced — in  doubt,  with  a 
great  mass  of  evidence,  which  determines  nothing, 
and  you  have  the  question  on  your  hands  just  as  you 
began  the  investigation. 

Now,  you  have  two  ways  open  for  the  decision  of 
the  question :  first,  by  direct  observation  and  personal 
investigation  of  the  facts  themselves ;  and,  second,  by 
examining  into  the  credibility  of  the  witnesses. 

By  all  means  take  the  first  course,  discarding  the 
second  in  all  possible  cases.  I  speak  from  experi- 
ence. While  writing  this  very  article,  and,  glancing 
out  of  the  window  to  catch  an  idea,  I  observed  a  load 
of  beer  cases  on  a  wagon,  stacked  up  as  high  as  a 
load  of  hay,  followed  by  a  wagon-load  of  ice.  Mine 
is  a  prohibition  town;  but,  in  practice,  there  seems 
to  be,  in  reality,  a  double  negative,  that  people  are 
prohibited  not  to  drink. 


238  MEXICO. 

I  have  read  many  times  in  our  daily  papers  that  the 
"town  is  dry,"  while  the  very  next  issue  of  the  paper 
would  give  an  account  of  the  "pulling  of  joints." 

The  most  uncertain  thing  on  earth  is  human  testi- 
mony. Interest  is  what  controls  people's  thoughts 
and  shapes'  their  words.  To  pass  upon  the  weight 
of  testimony,  you  must  first  determine  the  interest 
of  the  witness.  The  old  rule  for  the  establishment 
of  fact,  that  "In  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses 
every  word  shall  be  established,"  overlooks  entirely 
the  interest  of  the  witness,  as  well,  also,  as  his  veracity. 

I  saw  the  people  bury  their  dead.  I  sauntered  up 
toward  an  open  grave  where  the  last  scene  in  the 
tragedy  of  life  was  closing;  but,  as  I  drew  near,  all 
the  people  standing  around  suddenly  stopped  their 
devotions,  and  gazed  very  curiously  at  me,  at  which 
I  felt  much  confused;  and,  stooping  down,  as  if  to 
read  an  inscription  on  a  gravestone,  I  withdrew  more 
quietly  than  I  had  been  approaching.  Perhaps  I  had 
been  very  rude,  because  I  noticed  that  these  poor 
people  are  very  sentimental  about  death. 

The  harsh  manners  and  severe  means  with  which 
the  people  of  Europe,  and  we,  their  descendants  in 
America,  had,  until  recently,  buried  our  dead,  is  here 
replaced  by  the  most  anxious  concern  and  tender 
sympathy  in  consigning  to  the  tomb  the  earth,  earthy, 
buried  in  flowers,  before  the  earth,  really,  closes  over 
it  forever. 

This  shows  that  we  are  becoming  civilized,  because 
human  passions  relent  at  death,  and,  from  that  scene, 
the  changes  in  our  life  may  be  reckoned.  -- 

I  met  on  the  road,  going  into  town,  a  man  carrying 


SOCIAL.  239 

on  his  head  a  little  open  coffin  containing  the  body  of  a 
child  perhaps  two  years  old,  almost  hidden  in  flowers. 
This  poor  man  may  have  journeyed  many,  many 
miles  with  his  precious  burden  with  its  upturned  face 
to  that  heaven  where  it  had  already  gone,  for  the  ser- 
vice of  a  priest  who  could  do  nothing  but  take  his 
money. 

Another  corpse,  that  of  an  adult,  I  saw  carried  into 
town  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men,  to  receive  the  same 
last  mysterious  rites. 

Sometimes,  where  great  distances  are  to  be  covered, 
the  corpse  is  placed  in  a  litter  swung  between  two 
burros,  one  walking  ahead  of  the  other,  the  litter  be- 
ing supported  from  poles  lashed  to  their  sides. 

People  of  the  towns  which  have  street  cars  or  tram- 
ways, usually  employ  this  means  for  conveying  their 
dead  to  the  cemetery  on  the  outskirts  of  the  place; 
and,  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  the  street-car  company 
provides  regular  funeral  trains. 

Horses  and  mules  are  so  scarce  in  Mexico,  and  bur- 
ros of  little  use  except  for  pack-purposes,  that  this 
mode  of  conveyance  becomes  a  great  necessity. 

I  think  the  street-car  companies  in  all  cities  should 
be  encouraged  to  inaugurate  a  system  of  this  kind, 
as  it  would  prove  profitable  to  the  companies,  and 
relieve  the  public  against  the  extortion  of  hack-hire, 
which  is  now  one  of  the  chief  horrors  of  death. 

Amusements,  games  and  pastimes  now  claim  our 
attention. 

Guadalajara  has  an  immense  theater,  said  by  people 
there  to  have  been  the  largest  in  the  world  at  the  time 
it  was  built,  over  twenty  years  ago,  for  which  I  could 


240  MEXICO. 

not  vouch;  but  in  this  theater,  I  saw  my  only  play 
in  Mexico.  I  would  not  try  to  name  it,  for  fear  it 
would  not  come  when  I  called  it;  but  it  began  with  a 
condemnation  of,  or,  rather,  a  tirade  against,  society, 
ending,  as  those  matters  usually  end,  in  an  entire 
alliance  with  society. 

To  describe  the  whole  play  would  take  about  as 
long  as  to  act  it,  so  I  will  only  say  something  about  its 
most  striking  features. 

The  star,  of  the  ultra-emotional  type,  appeared 
early  in  the  performance,  in  her  private  dressing-room 
with  her  maid,  who  assisted  her  to  undress  from  what 
seemed  to  be  her  street  habit,  disrobing  until  long 
after  the  danger  line  had  been  reached,  powdering 
herself  and  smoking  cigarettes,  while  the  maid  did 
the  rest;  and,  not  only  this,  but  during  the  while, 
some  six  or  eight  men,  representing  so  many  char- 
acters in  the  play,  made  frequent  visits  to  her  private 
dressing-room,  and  sometimes  all  were  there  at  once. 
This  did  not  look  like  anything  I  had  ever  been  used 
to,  so  I  glanced  around  to  see  how  others  were  taking 
it,  but  observing  indifference  depicted  on  the  face  of 
everybody  else,  I  remained  in  fashion.  I  could  see 
no  relation  of  all  this  to  the  play,  unless  it  was  to  fur- 
nish the  proper  takeoff  to  the  inveighing  against  so- 
ciety, which  was  then  going  on  in  the  center  of  the 
stage;  and  it  was  certainly  a  takeoff,  even  to  shoes 
and  stockings. 

If  this  had  ended  it,  perhaps  the  liberties  of  the 
stage  would  have  accounted  for  what  would  have 
been  otherwise  outrageous;  but  this  was  not  all. 
After  the  play  had  gotten  along  to  that  point,  where 
the  star  had  become  infatuated  with  another  woman's 


SOCIAL.  241 

husband,  and  was  trying  to  win  him  away  from  her, 
and,  when  it  became  necessary  for  her  to  change 
radiance,  glimmer  or  twinkle,  as  you  wish  to  call  it, 
she  retired,  in  company  with  this  man,  to  her  private 
dressing-room,  this  time  alone,  did  her  own  undress- 
ing until  it  came  to  the  unlacing  of  the  corset-strings; 
this  she  could  not  do,  and  asked  her  man  to  unlace 
them  for  her,  which,  when  doing,  she  staggered  several 
times  in  a  vain  attempt  to  fall  into  his  arms,  which 
he  avoided  on  the  pretense  that  he  thought  she  was 
losing  her  balance  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
task. 

The  audience  remained  impassive,  and  so  did  I,  as 
I  did  not  want  them  to  think  this  was  my  first  time 
at  the  theater ;  but  I  blush,  even  now,  to  relate  it. 

The  upshot  of  the  thing  finally  was  a  mistaken 
identity  between  the  man  she  was  really  after  and  the 
man  she  thought  she  was  after,  and  the  happy  turn- 
ing of  the  play  was  that  the  star  had  not,  in  reality, 
met  the  husband  of  her  rival,  but  a  man  of  the  same 
name,  and  of  like  description,  who  was  free  to  con- 
tract the  marriage  relation;  and,  if  this  had  been  the 
event  of  the  play,  I  presume  "poetic  justice"  would 
have  been  done ;  but  it  was  not,  as  the  play  ended  in 
a  complete  breakup  between  the  star  and  her  man, 
he  leaving  in  a  towering  rage,  while  she  remained 
weeping  and  howling. 

I  cannot  imagine  any  greater  monstrosity  and  in- 
decency than  this;  but  it  was  viewed  by  a  large  au- 
dience of  the  best  people,  in  appearance  at  least, 
I  had  seen  in  the  country ;  and,  judging  from  the  man- 
ner they  behaved  themselves,  the  play  must  have  been 
all  right.  I  add  my  conclusion  that  this  play  was  a 


242  MEXICO. 

faithful  representation  of  Spanish-Mexican  manners; 
and  I  was  glad  to  see  not  a  single  native  Mexican 
present. 

The  play  was  acted  in  the  Spanish  language,  in 
which  was  a  great  mixture  of  English,  partially  in- 
telligible to  me;  and  this  fact,  in  connection  with 
the  acting  itself,  enabled  me  to  keep  the  run  of  the 
plot. 

The  Spanish-Mexicans  are  so  demonstrative  in  con- 
versation, that,  when  once  accustomed  to  their  ges- 
tures, shruggings,  grimaces,  poses,  one  can  catch  the 
tenor  of  what  they  are  saying  though  he  does  not 
understand  the  language  at  all.  So  essential,  indeed, 
do  the  arms  appear  to  be  that  one  would  be  justified 
in  the  conclusion  that  an  armless  Spanish-Mexican 
could  not  talk. 

Moving-picture  shows  were  the  only  things  attract- 
ing attention  at  the  theaters  in  the  City  of  Mexico, 
which  form  of  amusement  seemed  just  to  have  taken 
the  country,  that  so  I  can  say  nothing  of  high  society 
at  the  capital,  at  least  in  its  theatrical  propensities. 

The  phonograph  seemed  also  to  be  just  making  its 
first  general  eruption. 

As  among  all  primitive  people,  dancing  is,  also,  a 
favorite  and  prevailing  amusement  and  pastime. 

Baseball  teams  occasionally  stray  into  the  country 
from  the  United  States,  there  being  no  domestic  teams. 

No  football ;  and,  in  short,  none  of  the  games  called 
athletic,  or  where  personal  strength  is  in  contest. 

Chicken-fighting  is  very  common  in  the  country, 
but  this  is  the  work  of  the  natives,  and  conducted 
on  about  the  same  lines  as  in  the  United  States. 

The  greatest  of  all  events  in  Mexico  is  the  bull-fight, 


SOCIAL.  243 

a  description  of  which  I  .will  give  by  an  extract  from 
a  letter  dated  City  of  Mexico,  Mexico,  Sunday,  Febru- 
ary 24,  1907. 

I  spent  to-day  in  this  city,  walking  about  alone  dur- 
ing the  forenoon,  observing  the  general  outward  ap- 
pearance of  the  place,  visiting  the  markets,  because 
now,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Aztecs,  then  the  fifth,  but 
now  the  first  day  of  the  week,  was  and  is  the  great 
market-day  all  over  the  country,  such  as  is  seen  in 
our  own  country  in  the  large  towns  and  cities,  which 
still  maintain  the  custom  of  a  market-day;  visiting, 
also,  the  parks,  other  public  places  and  buildings,  the 
churches,  and,  especially,  the  cathedral,  immense  and 
magnificent,  where  worship,  at  seventeen  altars,  may 
simultaneously  progress,  without  disturbing  one  an- 
other; but  I  will  not  attempt  a  description  of  the 
things  I  saw,  as  that  would  be  to  write  a  book. 

Being  alone  in  a  metropolitan  city  in  a  foreign  land, 
is  an  experience  which  everyone,  at  some  time  in  his 
life,  should  seek  to  have.  A  panorama  of  my  life 
passed  before  me,  such  as  is  described  by  men  rescued 
from  drowning.  With  a  distinctness  more  vivid  than 
imagination  I  saw,  or  rather  relieved,  my  whole  life; 
but  what  I  had  intended  to  write  about  more  particu- 
larly was  a  bull-fight  I  attended  this  afternoon,  as 
they  are  usually  held  on  Sunday  afternoon. 

I  went  to  the  arena,  and  went  early ;  $5  admits  one 
to  the  shady  side  (sombre),  and  $2,  to  the  sunny  side 
(el  sol) ;  I  enter,  and  find  a  circular  ground-space  about 
two  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  surrounded  by  rising 
steps  or  seats,  much  resembling  what  we  have  all 
seen  at  the  circus,  where  four  adult  members  of  the 
family  are  required  to  take  the  six-year-old  to  see  the 


244  MEXICO. 

animals;  but  I,  of  course,  disclaim  any  such  curios- 
ity; I  went  for  anthropological  purposes. 

Three  or  four  hundred  soldiers,  acting  as  police,  be- 
cause, in  Mexico,  all  soldiers  are  police,  stationed  half 
on  either  side  of  the  arena,  at  the  junction  of  the 
shadow  with  the  sun,  made  by  the  high  barrier  all 
around,  a  company  of  firemen,  and  a  few  spectators 
had  preceded  me.  The  crowd  rapidly  gathers;  and 
I  watch,  with  close  attention,  and  deep  interest,  to 
see  what  manner  of  men  patronize  such  a  place.  Aside 
from  the  soldiers,  all  native  Mexicans,  or  rather  na- 
tive Indians,  or  still  more  properly,  descendants  of  the 
aborigines,  I  see  but  one,  one  only,  single  and  alone, 
of  that  race  as  spectators. 

What  could  furnish  a  more  striking  example  than 
this  of  what  existed  at  Jersualem,  before  the  present 
entente,  when  the  Turk  had  to  maintain  an  army  there 
to  keep  the  peace  among  the  contending  bands  of 
Christians,  who  came  on  worshipful  pilgrimages  to 
the  Holy  City! 

The  remainder  of  the  audience  is  made  up  of  the 
descendants  of  the  Spaniards,  who  conquered,  I  will 
not  say  settled,  the  country,  and  foreign  residents 
and  visitors.  I  estimate  the  crowd  at  12,000  to  15,000, 
about  equally  divided  between  sombre  and  el  sol, 
representing,  as  you  will  find  by  calculation,  a  hand- 
some gate-receipt  of  nearly  $50,000,  to  all  of  which 
my  presence  and  my  money  added  their  due  propor- 
tion. 

I  have  taken  my  position  near  the  arena  enclosure 
by  the  partition  between  the  shady  and  the  sunny 
sides,  that  I  may  get  the  most  advantageous  view  of 
the  audience  as  well  as  of  the  arena,  as  I  want  to  ob- 


SOCIAL.  245 

serve  the  people  as  well  as  the  performance.  If  I  had 
had  $50  to  give  to  see  a  bull-fight,  I  could  have  had 
a  seat  in  a  box,  and  enjoyed,  on  terms  of  perfect 
familiarity,  for  such  is  Spanish  manners,  the  company 
of  the  overdressed,  or  perhaps,  to  speak  more  correctly, 
the  underdressed,  mostly  ladies  of  the  upper-tendom, 
who  came  here,  as  did  their  swarthy  sisters  centuries 
ago  in  the  Eternal  City,  to  enjoy  the  pastime  of  the 
arena. 

0  Rome,  Rome,  no  wonder  that  thou  art  still  howl- 
ing! Never  more  than  a  savage  in  thy  palmiest  days, 
thy  baleful  influence  is  still  abroad  to  curse  the  world! 

The  audience  assembled,  the  time  arrives,  a  bugle 
sounds,  a  gate  opens,  enter  the  bull-fighters  (matadors) 
on  foot,  accompanied  by  their  assistants  on  foot  and 
on  horseback  (picadors).  The  applause  is  great,  as 
they  parade  the  arena,  bowing  right  and  left,  then 
back,  and,  exit.  In  an  instant,  the  bull-fighters,  ac- 
companied by  their  foot  assistants  only,  reenter  in- 
formally; in  another  instant,  a  gate  at  another  part 
of  the  arena  is  opened,  and  in  rushes  a  furious  black 
bull,  which  my  "libretta"  has  informed  me  is  of  the 
"Spanish  type,"  furious  by  nature,  and  made  more 
so  by  hunger  and  art.  He  makes  a  mad  rush  for  his 
antagonists,  who  flee  before  his  onslaught,  taking 
refuge  by  jumping  over  a  stout  plank  fence  about 
six  feet  high,  encircling  the  arena,  beyond  which  is  a 
space  about  four  feet  wide,  the  supports  of  the  first 
tier  of  seats  forming  its  outer  boundary,  and  extend- 
ing five  or  six  feet  above  the  top  of  the  fence.  This 
looks  handsomely  for  the  bull,  as  he  has  cleared  the 
arena  at  the  first  dash,  and  he  received  great  applause, 
the  ladies  clapping  their  hands,  laughing  heartily,  and 


246  MEXICO. 

waving  their  handkerchiefs, — all  to  the  bull,  you  un- 
derstand! One  by  one  the  fighters  and  their  assistants 
on  foot  crawl  back  over  the  fence,  if  the  bull  has  not 
gone  over  the  fence  after  them,  in  which  case,  he  is 
driven  around  to  the  gate,  and  reentered  there;  and 
the  first  scene  is  then  repeated.  On  the  second  on- 
slaught, the  fighter  who  is  eventually  to  kill  the  bull, 
takes  his  red  cape,  and  flaunts  it;  the  bull  rushes  for 
the  cape;  the  fighter  steps  aside,  jerking  the  cape  also 
in  time  to  prevent  its  being  carried  off  on  the  horns 
of  the  bull;  but,  if  the  rush  is  too  wild,  and  the  bull 
takes  for  his  antagonist  rather  than  the  cape,  it  may 
again  be  necessary  for  the  fighter  to  take  refuge  be- 
hind this  barricade,  the  fence,  and  the  bull  has  scored 
another;  but  the  bull,  like  men,  having  a  weakness 
for  appearance  rather  than  reality,  charges  the  red 
with  great  impetuosity,  which  is  always  jerked  out 
of  his  way  just  in  time  for  him  to  miss  it;  and  here 
we  are  again  reminded  of  the  doings  of  men.  This 
flaunting  of  the  cape  and  charging  of  the  bull  are  re- 
peated until  his  ardor  commences  to  cool,  and  his 
body  to  tire,  when  he  seems  to  reflect,  as  he  comes  to 
a  stop,  contemplating  the  red  cape  with  an  expression 
which  seems  to  say:  "This  is  all  a  joke,  and  there  is 
nothing  there  anyway!"  When  this  point  is  reached, 
the  bull,  having  given  up  the  fight  with  his  imaginary 
red  enemy,  and  will  no  longer  charge,  the  fighter  takes 
two  iron  rods  about  three  feet  long,  with  spearheads 
on  the  end,  and  the  shaft  trimmed  with  cut  paper  of 
various  colors  to  make  it  conspicuous,  takes  his  sta- 
tion about  one  hundred  feet  distant  from  the  bull, 
having  one  of  these  lances  (banderillos)  in  each  hand, 
waves  them  in  the  air,  attracts  the  notice  of  the  bull, 


SOCIAL.  247 

until  he  makes  a  charge  for  the  fighter,  who  runs  to- 
ward the  bull  at  the  same  time;  and,  just  the  instant 
before  meeting,  the  fighter  steps  quickly  aside,  and 
plunges  the  lances  into  the  shoulders  of  the  bull  as  he 
lunges  by;  this  is  again  repeated,  four  lances  being 
placed  in  the  shoulders  of  the  bull,  which  swing  at 
his  every  move,  causing  intense  pain,  so  that,  for  a 
short  time,  the  bull  turns  mad  fighting,  or  trying  to 
fight,  these  lances,  as  they  swing  from  his  shoulders; 
but  soon  turns  his  fury  on  his  antagonist,  and  the  red- 
cape  performance  is  repeated  until  the  bull  again  gives 
it  up;  then  new  antagonists  are  brought  in,  men  on 
horseback  (picadors),  with  their  horses  blindfolded, 
riding  around  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  bull,  and 
again  rouse  him  to  do  battle  with  the  horse,  which  he 
plunges  with  his  horn  in  the  flank  or  breast,  drawing 
great  streams  of  blood,  or  opening  the  abdominal 
cavity,  so  that  the  entrails  of  the  horse  drop  out  and 
drag  on  the  ground,  while  the  horse,  blindfolded,  and 
not  able  to  locate  his  slayer,  protect  himself,  or  get 
away,  becomes  frantic  in  his  extreme  peril.  If,  after 
this  encounter,  the  horse  is  still  able  to  go,  he  is  quickly 
taken  from  the  arena  to  be  dispatched  outside.  Only 
three  horses  were  allowed  the  honor  of  dying  in  the 
arena,  while  the  number  taken  out,  after  being  mor- 
tally wounded,  must  have  been  six  or  eight.  One 
horse,  in  particular,  charged  madly  across  the  arena, 
his  entrails  dragging  on  the  ground,  kicking  at  them  as 
he  went,  as  if  at  his  tormentor,  to  the  great,  loud  and 
prolonged  applause  of  the  spectators.  Accustomed, 
as  I  am,  to  fearful  sights,  this  was  too  much  for  me, 
and  I  carry  a  mental  impression  like  a  horrible  night- 
mare, from  which  I  will  doubtless  suffer  the  remainder 


248  MEXICO. 

of  my  life.  This  over,  the  bull  is  again  made  to  charge 
his  red  enemy,  though  not  now  the  red  cape  of  the 
matador,  but  a  small  scarlet  cloth,  which  the  fighter 
hangs  on  a  stick  about  the  length  of  a  walking-stick, 
much  resembling  a  flag,  and  this  is  repeated  until 
the  bull,  again  recovering  from  his  madness  engendered 
by  his  goring  the  horse,  begins  to  tire,  and  to  fall  al- 
most from  exhaustion.  We  are  now  approaching  the 
final  act  of  the  tragedy.  The  matador,  taking  his  red 
flag  in  his  left  hand,  projects  it  to  his  right  side,  having 
in  his  right  hand  a  long,  sharp-pointed  sword;  he 
flaunts  the  flag,  in  this  position,  at  the  bull,  which 
charges;  and,  as  he  lowers  his  head,  in  an  effort  to 
gore  the  flag,  the  matador  plunges  his  sword  into  his 
neck  just  in  front  of  his  shoulders  on  the  right  side, 
in  a  downward  and  backward  line,  in  an  attempt  to 
pierce  the  heart,  which,  if  he  does,  the  bull  falls  in- 
stantly to  the  ground ;  but,  if  he  miss  the  heart,  which 
he  almost  always  does,  and  pierce  the  lungs,  the  bull, 
suffering  intense  agonies,  turns  round  and  round,  the 
blood  streaming  from  his  mouth;  and,  in  a  few  mo- 
ments, slowly  sinks  down  to  the  ground,  dying,  while 
the  audience  is  going  wild  with  shouts  and  applause, 
the  ladies  waving  their  handkerchiefs,  and  becoming 
hysterical  with  transports  of  delight. 

This  terrible  scene  is  soon  closed  by  an  assistant 
who  runs  up,  takes  a  short,  sharp  dagger  and  plunges 
it  into  the  bull's  neck  just  back  of  the  horns,  sever- 
ing the  spinal  cord,  which  gives  a  tremendous  nervous 
shock;  and  the  bull,  struggling  and  quivering  all  over 
for  an  instant,  expires.  A  team  of  mules  is  then 
hurriedly  driven  in,  a  chain  thrown  quickly  around 
the  bull's  horns,  the  team  attached,  the  carcass  drawn 


SOCIAL.  249 

on  the  run  from  the  arena,  the  gate  closed  behind  it, 
and  this  terrible  tragedy,  which  ought  to  make  even 
the  statue  of  Nero  shudder,  is  over. 

But,  no,  no ;  the  performance  is  not  over ;  five  more 
bulls  must  be  killed  in  the  identical  way,  without  the 
least  variance  from  any  of  the  particulars  of  the  first; 
five  times  more  must  these  horrors  of  hell  be  repeated, 
to  the  infinite  gratification  of  the  fiends,  I  will  not  say 
people,  who  fill  this  abyss,  in  order  to  complete  the 
performance ;  and  five  more  bulls,  in  succession,  are 
brought  in;  horses  gored  to  death,  defenseless  and 
blindfolded;  blood  flows  in  torrents;  death  is  in- 
flicted in  the  most  cruel  and  agonizing  ways,  all  to  the 
greatest  delight  and  entertainment,  and  pastime,  if 
you  please,  of  the  spectators! 

This  arena,  this  hole,  seems  to  me  the  abyss  of  hell, 
these  performers  archdemons,  this  audience  fiends; 
and  I  imagine  that  I  have,  like  Ulysses,  made  the  de- 
scent into  hell.  I  am  steeped  in  blood;  and,  like 
Ulysses,  long  for  the  upper  air;  but  I  am  detained, 
like  him,  by  a  ghostly  apparition,  another  horror. 

The  programme  is  complete;  for  the  last  half  of  the 
performance,  a  cold,  drizzling  rain  has  been  falling, 
and  the  spectators  are  becoming  wet  to  the  skin ;  but 
they  are  not  willing  to  quit  this  terrible  slaughter; 
cries  of  "otro!"  (another),  and  "torro!"  (bull),  are 
so  loud,  long  and  persistent,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  rain  and  the  cold,  a  seventh  bull  must  be  brought 
in,  and  dispatched,  in  all  particulars,  like  the  other 
six.  "Insatiable  fiends!"  I  groan. 

I  have  now  seen  a  bull-fight,  and  I  regret  it,  but,  you 
know,  I  am  an  anthropologist,  and  came  for  scientific 
purposes.  How  would  I  know  what  a  bull-fight  was, 


250  MEXICO. 

if  I  had  not  seen  one?  How  could  I  philosophize  on 
the  frailties  of  man,  if  I  had  not  lived  in  the  world? 
The  nation,  the  people,  the  individuals,  maintain- 
ing or  countenancing  such  an  institution  are  worse 
than  savages,  for  no  savages  have  ever  done  anything 
so  foolishly  cruel.  Rome,  that  cradle  of  crime,  can 
yet  survey  the  devastation  she  has  wrought;  and  her 
descendants,  by  no  means  confined  to  her  ancient 
hills,  are  the  most  criminal  and  bloodthirsty  in  the 
world. 

The  doctor  and  the  occasion  for  his  profession  are 
most  closely  related  to  the  social  condition. 

Doctors  are  scarcer  than  lawyers  in  Mexico;  the 
natives  get  along  almost  entirely  without  them ;  and 
I  am  afraid,  the  Spanish-Mexicans  are  in  but  little 
better  condition  with  them.  The  profession  of  doctor, 
the  very  word  being  an  equivalent  of  learning,  is  the 
most  unlearned  profession  in  the  world.  Recently  I 
saw  an  article  in  a  periodical,  giving  the  number  of 
persons  graduating  from  medical  institutions  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  number  passing  the  official 
boards  of  examination,  as  only  a  few  in  excess  of  half; 
and  the  article  went  on  to  state  that  half  of  those  pass- 
ing were  not  qualified  to  practice  medicine,  which 
would  bring  the  number  of  the  efficient,  under  present 
laws,  down  to  about  one-fourth  the  number  graduating. 
Casting  out  of  the  equation  the  influence  of  state  boards 
of  examination  in  the  elevation  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion as  an  influence  on  the  student  in  college,  we  have 
the  surprising  result  that  prior  to  the  establishment 
of  the  state  boards,  three  fourths  of  all  the  practicing 
physicians  were  incompetent,  assuming  that  all 


SOCIAL.  251 

graduates  practiced;  while,  now,  the  proportion  of 
incompetents  is  reduced  to  one-half  the  number  of 
practitioners  and  the  number  of  practitioners  to  one- 
half  the  total  number  of  graduates,  the  other  half  failing 
to  pass  the  state  boards. 

Nobody  knows  the  truth  of  these  figures  better  than 
the  doctors  themselves,  and  nobody  at  all,  except 
themselves,  appreciates  the  fact. 

I  was  well  treated  by  all  the  doctors  I  met  in  Mexico, 
and  am  under  personal  obligations  to  some  of  them; 
but  I  must  not  let  that  interfere  with  what  I  write; 
and,  if  I  let  such  matters  control  my  thoughts  and 
what  I  write,  I  would  be  asking  the  attention  and 
interest  of  my  reader  with  a  very  bad  grace,  although 
we  all  do  know  of  instances  where  writers  have  asked 
to  be  excused  from  telling  the  truth  on  account  of 
courtesies  extended  or  favors  received. 

I  saw  one  prescription  written,  while  in  Mexico,  and 
that  was  for  acute  alcoholism,  consisting  of  equal 
parts  of  opium  and  morphine.  The  patient  lived. 

All  the  doctors  I  saw  were  Spanish-Mexicans,  ex- 
cept one  from  the  United  States,  and  he  wanted  to 
come  back  to  the  United  States. 

What  first  called  my  attention  to  the  state  of  the 
public  health  in  Mexico  was  the  very  large  number  of 
cases  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis — consumption,  as  we 
commonly  say — everywhere  present  in  the  country, 
among  all  classes,  and  in  all  conditions. 

Lack  of  proper  clothing,  food,  shelter,  fuel  and  san- 
itation, in  an  incongenial  climate  at  a  high  altitude, 
arresting  development,  and  producing  a  general  phys- 
ical weakness,  is  the  full  and  complete  explanation. 

The  remedy  lies  in  the  prevention. 


252  MEXICO. 

Almost  the  whole  category  of  diseases  might  be 
produced  as  the  result  of  the  deplorable  condition  in 
which  the  people  live;  but  I  will  mention  only  those 
coming  to  my  attention. 

Next  to  tuberculosis,  as  a  terrible  factor  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  public  health,  I  think  I  am  safe  in  naming 
the  diseases  of  the  alimentary  canal,  due  to  raw,  un- 
wholesome, improper  and  ill-prepared  food  and  bad 
water.  When  I  reflect  on  the  amount  of  infection 
in  their  food  and  drink,  I  am  greatly  surprised  that 
anyone  can  survive  the  vicissitudes  of  a  year.  On 
account  of  a  very  high  impost  on  paper,  rendering  its 
use  almost  prohibitory,  meats  are  handled  without 
any  covering,  sometimes  lying  on  a  large  leaf  of  a  tree, 
but  usually  carried,  suspended  by  a  string;  without 
ice  also,  except  in  a  very  few  of  the  larger  cities;  but 
very  indifferently  cooked  over  a  slow  fire;  and  eaten, 
where  the  people  can  afford  it,  in  large  quantities.  In 
one  town  of  about  twTenty-five  hundred  or  three  thou- 
sand people,  where  I  stayed,  there  being  no  hotel,  I 
secured  accommodations  in  a  family  residence,  where 
I  was  treated  royally,  and  shown  a  touch  of  high  life 
to  which  I  was  not  accustomed.  At  the  Sunday  din- 
ner, served  in  banquet  style,  six  courses  of  meats  were 
served  in  succession;  but  I  dropped  out  after  the 
second,  although  the  others  at  table  held  out  for  the 
six.  Everything  else  was  on  the  same  scale;  and  I 
was  figuratively  the  only  person  to  be  put  under  the 
table  early  in  each  series,  which  created  a  very  bad 
impression  as  to  what  I  had  been  used  to ;  but  I  could 
not  help  it,  as  I  had  an  intense  desire  to  see  the  United 
States  again  before  I  died.  Nobody,  eating  in  this 
manner,  even  of  good  food,  could  expect  to  be  healthy 


SOCIAL.  253 

or  live  long;  but  is  likely  to  die  at  any  time  in  a  fit  of 
gluttony.  For  the  admiration  of  my  temperance 
friends,  I  should  say  I  did  not  find  a  wineglass  by  my 
plate,  but  only  a  quart  bottle.  Such  gluttony  presents 
a  striking  contrast  with  the  general  poverty  and  pri- 
vation of  the  people. 

When  I  touch  upon  domestic  life,  I  shall  have  more 
to  say  about  the  manner  of  cooking  and  eating. 

Water,  for  drinking  and  culinary  use,  is  obtained 
from  running  streams,  almost  without  exceptions; 
and  I  do  not  remember  seeing  a  single  well  in  the  coun- 
try, except  for  railroad  supply.  When  the  dry  season 
has  existed  for  such  a  length  of  time  as  to  allow  all 
surface-water  to  drain  off,  and  only  the  supply  from 
the  deep  springs  remains,  it  is  comparatively  pure; 
but,  during  all  the  rainy  season,  it  can  only  be  abomi- 
nable, and  the  great  wonder  to  me  is,  that  anybody 
can  drink  it  and  live.  People  might  have  deep  well- 
water,  that  purest  of  all  supplies,  but  they  are  living 
under  the  same  customs,  as,  no  doubt,  did  their  an- 
cestors in  the  morning  of  the  world  at  the  same  places. 

Following  the  alimentary  diseases  due  to  improper 
food  and  bad  water,  I  will  place  smallpox,  evidenced 
everywhere  by  the  pitted  face  to  the  extent  that  one 
must  conclude  that  it  is  prevalent  in  the  whole  country 
the  year  round. 

A  great  deal  of  anxiety  existed  among  the  Americans 
in  the  city,  while  I  was  there,  on  account  of  a  number 
of  deaths  due  to  smallpox  in  their  ranks,  occurring  in 
rapid  succession;  and  an  American,  with  whom  I 
traveled  a  few  days,  told  me  he  had  had  it  twice.  I 
felt  no  alarm  at  the  danger  of  death  myself,  because 


254  MEXICO. 

I  had  occupied  a  traveling  position  by  railroad  for 
about  eighteen  years,  and  had  never  received  a  scratch. 

Sanitation  is  the  prevention  for  smallpox,  provided 
everybody  is  obliged  to  keep  clean. 

Following  smallpox,  I  place  death  from  starvation, 
in  which  I  will  include  all  those  deteriorating  influences 
due  to  lack  of  proper  clothing  and  properly  warmed 
and  ventilated  shelter.  The  poor  people  of  Mexico, 
and  that  means  about  ninety-five  percent  of  them, 
live  on  the  ground.  Now,  call  over  the  acts  of  eating, 
sleeping,  working,  resting,  and  you  have  it,  if  you  do 
not  comprehend  the  full  force  of  the  statement  that 
they  live  on  the  ground.  They  have  simply  appro- 
priated a  spot  of  earth  around  which,  on  the  plateaus, 
they  have  built  mud  or  stone  walls,  sometimes  not  as 
compact  as  a  stone  fence,  usually  with  earthen  roof; 
and,  in  the  tierra  caliente,  or  hot  country,  have  walled 
themselves  in  with  a  stockade  of  sticks,  cornstalks  or 
sugarcane,  but  sometimes  with  rushes,  with  roofs 
usually  of  grasses.  On  the  plateaus,  where  the  cli- 
mate is  inhospitable,  and,  sometimes,  severe,  people 
have  no  fuel  for  heating  purposes,  but  only  a  small 
amount  of  sticks,  cornstalks,  or  such  like,  for  cooking 
after  the  most  primitive  forms. 

For  clothing,  they  have  one  layer  of  a  thin  cotton 
cloth,  and  always  a  blanket,  which  serves  as  a  wrap 
during  the  day  and  a  bed  at  night.  Folding  themselves 
in  this  blanket,  they  lie  down  on  the  ground,  or  sit 
up  against  the  wall,  and  sleep.  Barefoot  always,  with 
the  exception  of  the  men  who  wear  sandals  of  their 
own  make,  consisting  of  a  piece  of  common  sole- 
leather,  attached  to  the  foot  with  straps. 

In  the  terribly  big  hat,  the  sombrero,  is  where  we 


SOCIAL.  255 

strike  their  extravagance,  but  most  of  them,  however, 
can  only  afford  poor  and  cheap  ones. 

Their  food  is  never  sufficient  to  sustain  life  properly, 
and  is  often  down  to  a  sort  of  siege  basis,  so  that  they 
lack  full  growth  and  proper  development;  and  the 
starvation,  in  the  large  sense  in  which  I  have  employed 
the  term,  is  of  slow  progress.  Those  who  survive 
infancy  and  youth,  with  this  insufficient  and  bad  diet, 
frequently  dry  up,  become  mummified,  in  their  old 
age.  I  have  seen  many  old  people  of  no  perceptible 
frame  except  skin  and  bone,  apparent  mummies,  pre- 
senting the  most  dejected  and  pitiable  sight  imaginable; 
but  no  state,  however  deplorable,  has  ever  been  too 
lamentable  not  to  be  the  object  of  man's  levity;  and 
people  say  that  these  poor  wretches  are  walking  around 
to  save  funeral  expenses.  On  the  same  principle,  the 
French  speak  about  the  massacres  of  St.  Bartholomew 
as  the  matins. 

In  infancy  and  in  youth,  the  number  of  deaths  due 
to  lack  of  nourishment,  if  starvation  seems  too  strong 
a  term,  is  simply  appalling.  Think  of  an  undertaker 
having,  as  his  sign,  a  little  coffin,  swinging  from  a 
string  over  his  door!  This  is  the  usual  sign  in  Mexico. 

The  government  of  Mexico  take  notice!  In  France, 
in  the  greatness  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  and  in  the 
pinnacle  of  his  glory,  one-fourth  of  the  people  were  in  a 
starving  condition.  The  wrongs  which  thin  the  ranks 
of  the  people,  whether  from  oppression  or  in  useless 
wars,  are  the  knell  of  nations,  which  we  overlook,  be- 
cause they  die  more  slowly  than  individuals ;  and  their 
extreme  activity,  on  approaching  dissolution,  is  but 
abnormal  exhibitions  of  strength  produced  by  the 
powerful  irritation  from  the  severance  of  their  cord. 


256  MEXICO. 

After  starvation,  I  place  nervous  degeneration  from 
all  the  causes  and  conditions  heretofore  mentioned. 
People  whose  nerve  degeneracy  has  knit  their  muscles 
into  rigidity  are  very  numerous.  The  doctors  here 
would  call  this  rheumatism,  but  it  is  not. 

I  have  seen  these  poor  wretches  doubled  up  three- 
ply  in  absolute  rigidity,  their  chin  resting  on  their 
knees  and  their  heels  touching  their  buttocks.  This 
is  the  bodily  posture  in  which  I  have  seen  people  fold 
themselves  to  sleep,  to  economize  heat  by  contact,  as 
well  as  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  size  of  their  blanket. 
This  position  frequently  assumed  and  long  continued 
has  become  fixed. 

Next  I  place  pneumonia,  the  prevalence  of  which 
can  be  understood  by  simply  referring  to  the  mode 
of  life  of  the  people  and  the  climate  of  the  plateaus 
already  described. 

Then  I  place  acute  alcoholism.  In  a  statement  of 
the  number  of  deaths  occurring  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
during  one  week  while  I  was  in  the  country,  seven 
percent  were  reported  to  have  died  from  alcoholism. 
I  have  used  the  expression  acute  alcoholism,  because 
they  go  mighty  fast.  Tequila  and  mescal  do  not  let 
them  linger  long  on  the  way,  which  I  think  not  with- 
out their  benefits,  because,  if  a  man  is  determined  to 
become  a  snake-fancier,  he  ought  to  be  furnished  the 
facility  to  make  it  quick,  and  rid  society,  not  only  of 
his  disgrace,  but  a  useless  man  as  well. 

Some  of  the  women  of  Mexico,  notwithstanding  their 
terrible  physical  condition,  are  creatures  of  very  great 
beauty,  of  that  full-tone  effect,  so  necessary  to  ex- 
pression of  countenance,  a  countenance  here  of  that 


SOCIAL.  257 


sadness  which  inspires  pity,  and  mingles  solicitude 
with  admiration. 

To  northern  Europe  and  their  descendants  in  Amer- 
ica, this  is  not  the  type  of  beauty  any  more  than  our 
type  is  acceptable  to  the  southern  ceuntries,  where 
our  damsels  are  referred  to  as  "the  pale,  unripe  beau- 
ties of  the  north." 

And  now  I  am  done  with  the  public  health,  as  I 
observed  very  little  else,  and,  even  if  I  had,  the  enter- 
ing on  minute  details  would  be  undesirable  in  a  sketch 
of  this  kind. 

The  following  account  of  a  trip  to  Panindicuaro  is 
taken,  with  slight  changes,  from  a  letter  I  wrote  on 
the  evening  of  my  arrival  at  that  place.  I  had  in- 
tended to  rewrite  this  account,  to  make  the  style 
correspond  with  that  of  the  remainder  of  the  work; 
but  I  found,  on  attempting  to  do  so,  that  my  new 
version  sounded  terribly  flat,  as  compared  with  the 
letter,  and  is  here  given  as  showing  the  life  of  the 
people. 

This  letter,  and  the  one  giving  an  account  of  the 
bull-fight,  are  the  only  documents  or  memoranda  I 
have  used  in  writing  this  book.  The  proper  way,  I 
think,  to  write  up  a  travel,  would  be  to  make  a  memo- 
randum, each  evening,  of  the  experiences  of  the  day, 
with  the  passing  impressions,  and,  then,  when  one 
returned  home,  to  condense  by  rewriting,  and  giving, 
also,  the  results  of  mature  reflection;  but  I  had  not 
then  thought  of  writing  up  my  trip;  and,  therefore, 
made  no  notes  at  all  for  that  purpose. 

I  arrived  at  Panindicuaro  late  Sunday,  February 
10,  1907,  too  late,  indeed,  for  church,  but  not  for  busi- 


258  MEXICO. 

ness,  as  Sunday  is  the  great  business  day  in  Mexico. 
This  place  is  nearly  fifty  miles  from  the  nearest  rail- 
road station,  and  cost  me  two  days'  journey,  the  first 
being  rather  uneventful,  but  terrible  on  account  of  the 
dust,  no  rain  having  fallen  since  last  October;  but  we 
must  remember  I  am  within  the  tropics.  I  slept  last 
night  on  the  moonlit  side  of  a  wall,  with  nothing  beneath 
but  the  earth,  and  nothing  above  but  heaven,  as  usual 
quite  out  of  reach,  when  most  desired,  for  I  never  had 
such  a  longing  to  go  there  as  now.  Starting  early 
this  morning,  we  had  not  proceeded  far  until  all  signs 
of  a  road  had  disappeared,  and  we  had  to  make  our 
way  as  best  we  could,  often  having  to  unhitch  and 
lift  our  wagon  over  ditches  and  obstructions,  and 
rather  carrying  it  than  its  carrying  us.  Coming  about 
noon  to  a  hacienda  in  the  mountains,  we  regaled  our- 
selves, secured  a  new  guide,  and  proceeded,  with  in- 
creased difficulties,  to  our  destination.  On  arriving, 
I  find  we  have  brought  into  this  town  of  nearly  3000 
inhabitants,  the  first  four-wheeled  vehicle  for  about 
sixty  years,  at  which  time  a  stage  line  was  abandoned 
as  unprofitable.  I  will  send  my  wagon,  driver  and 
guide  back  to-morrow  morning,  and  ride  out  the  first 
day's  journey  on  a  burro,  as  I  had  to  walk  almost  the 
entire  distance  coming  in  today,  over  mountains  as 
rugged  as  only  lava  can  make  them. 

Thousands  of  people  are  to  be  seen  here  this  even- 
ing, mostly  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  fair  or  market 
day,  not  of  the  Mexican,  but  of  the  Aztec,  for  these 
people  here  are  all  Indians,  native  Indians,  descend- 
ants of  the  Aztecs,  Toltecs,  Chichemecs,  or,  perhaps,  the 
warlike  Tlascalans,  whom  even  the  great  Montezuma 
could  not  dislodge  from  their  mountains,  or  conquer. 


SOCIAL.  259 

I  went  to  the  postoffice  to  mail  a  letter,  and  find  no 
regular,  or  even  irregular  mail  in  and  out,  but  just 
when  anybody  happens  to  go  or  come.  The  post- 
master has  a  cigarbox  which  serves  the  entire  uses  of 
the  office,  for  stamps,  for  letters,  coming  and  going 
and  all;  yet  3000  people  live  here;  and,  I  imagine, 
in  almost  the  same  condition,  with  the  exception  of  a 
partial  change  of  their  religion  and  dress,  as  they  have 
for  untold  ages,  perhaps  before  Thebes,  perhaps  be- 
fore Babylon,  perhaps  before  the  Table  of  the  Sun  was 
spread.  When  I  compare  their  art  and  civilization, 
as  I  see  them  here  in  stone,  with  what  I  have  seen  in 
books  of  that  of  Egypt,  I  conclude  this  is  older;  but 
I  may  be  too  much  impressed  with  my  surroundings 
to  be  able  to  comprehend  that  anything  in  the  world 
could  be  older.  This  similarity  between  the  arts  of 
early  Egypt  and  those  of  Mexico  is  so  striking  that 
no  one  can  overlook  it,  and  it  has  been  noticed  from 
the  earliest  discoveries. 

Some  imagine  that  all  manners,  customs,  habits 
and  laws,  differing  from  their  own,  are  savage,  or,  at 
least,  barbarous;  but  a  little  travel  would  convince 
them  that  some  of  the  greatest  monuments  have  been 
erected  by  savages,  and  that  greatness  is  no  criterion 
of  merit. 

A  nation  that  has  had  just  and  equitable  laws, 
courts  with  judges,  independent  of  the  crown,  to  en- 
force them,  a  government  which  protects  the  citizen, 
securing  him  in  the  possession  of  individual  property, 
holds  the  rapacity  of  the  merchant  in  check,  has  an 
organized  army,  sends  and  receives  ambassadors,  fos- 
ters and  advances  learning  and  the  arts,  even  to  the 
ascertainment  of  the  cause  of  eclipses,  is  civilized, 


260  MEXICO. 

although  it  lacks  the  engines  of  death  of  an  Inquisition 
or  the  controversial  philosophy  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Yes,  I  believe  that  these  people  were  civilized  while 
Europe  was  yet  savage;  and  I  have  Draper  for  my 
authority  in  saying  that  Spain,  in  the  Conquest,  de- 
stroyed a  civilization  greater  than  her  own,  and  com- 
mitted a  crime  on  these  people  greater  than  the  crime 
of  eating  human  flesh. 

While  on  the  way  today,  I  had  plenty  of  time  to 
sit  down  while  awaiting  the  slow  progress  of  what  I 
had  expected  to  be  my  conveyance,  and,  partly  from 
fatigue  and  partly  from  the  influence  of  the  place, 
would  lean  my  head  upon  my  hands  and  mope,  which 
some  would  doubtless  call  meditation. 

Man  has  ever  added  terror  to  the  difficulties  of  na- 
ture; and  here  I  find  no  exception.  Along  this  moun- 
tain-trail, more  frequent  than  milestones,  are  seen 
crosses,  anchored  in  piles  of  stones,  or,  sometimes, 
chiseled  on  the  lava,  with  an  inscription;  and,  I  am 
about  to  admire  the  faith  and  virtue  of  humanity  that 
can  worship  God  in  such  a  place,  when  inquiry  sud- 
denly transforms  my  feelings  of  reverence  into  terror; 
for  I  learn  that  these  crosses  of  Christ  here  planted 
mark  the  places  of  murder  and  burial  of  some  unfor- 
tunate adventurer  or  worthy  citizen  who  fell  at  the 
hands  of  the  descendants,  in  the  New  World,  of  the 
Castilian  robbers  of  the  Old;  but  I  soon  regain  my 
calmness  on  hearing  that  this  condition  has  now  passed 
away;  and  I  stop  to  read  the  inscriptions.  On  one, 
at  the  top  of  a  mountain,  just  as  the  prospect  of  the 
lovely  valley  beyond  presents  itself  like  a  picture,  I 
pause  a  moment;  but  all  that  is  left  is  I  H  S,  only 
faintly  discernible.  This  decayed  and  worm-eaten 


SOCIAL.  261 

cross,  standing  over  this  spot,  reminds  me  of  the  top- 
mast of  a  sunken  ship,  projecting  above  the  water,  a 
monument  of  the  wreck  that  lies  buried  beneath.  I 
pause  for  an  instant  longer,  and  reflect,  that  here,  as 
did  I,  some  weary  traveler,  as  he  reached  the  summit 
of  this  mountain,  and  pause  with  awe,  contemplating, 
or  rather  entranced  with,  the  beauties  before  him, 
was  stricken  down  by  the  hands  of  assassins  and  rob- 
bers, then  infesting  these  mountain-trails;  and  I 
reflect  again,  that  these  robbers  are  still  in  Mexico,  as 
in  our  own  country,  waylaying  us,  having  only  changed 
their  habitat  from  the  wildernesses  to  the  cities,  where 
they  now  rule  over  us  in  the  name  of  the  people,  ca- 
joling us  with  policies,  where  they  formerly  cudgeled 
us  with  clubs. 

Let  those  who  believe  the  world  is  getting  better 
reflect  upon  the  constitution  of  man,  which,  like  time, 
is  subject  to  progress,  but  not  to  change. 

The  considerate  attitude  of  man  to  man,  in  the  or- 
dinary affairs  of  life,  is  always  of  great  interest  and 
importance. 

In  speaking  of  politeness  in  Mexico,  I  am  referring 
especially  to  the  manners  of  the  descendants  of  the 
Spaniards,  who,  with  considerable  pride,  refer  to  their 
customs  as  Spanish;  and,  as  it  so  widely  differs  from 
our  own,  I  will  give  some  examples,  because  this  is  a 
subject  where  descriptions  count  for  little. 

Going  into  the  City  of  Mexico  from  an  outlying  town, 
I  took  a  sleeper,  which  I  found  crowded,  only  a  few 
upper  berths  remaining.  Two  ladies  and  about  twenty 
gentlemen  made  up  the  party.  The  usual  stop  was 
made  at  the  supper  station,  which  over,  some  of  the 


262  MEXICO. 

gentlemen  assembled  alongside  the  car,  near  the  en- 
trance, awaiting  the  time  for  departure.  When  the 
signal  to  leave  town  was  given,  these  gentlemen  com- 
menced disputing  among  themselves  as  to  who  should 
have  the  honor  of  boarding  the  car  first,  and  as  to  who 
should  precede  whom  generally,  until  the  train  had 
started  to  move  quite  lively,  followed  by  the  crowd; 
and,  then,  running  after,  grabbing  and  scrambling, 
they  got  on  pellmell,  as  best  they  could,  without  re- 
gard even  to  how  much  one  encroached  on  the  conven- 
ience or  comfort  of  another.  I  watched  this  peculiar 
performance  with  great  interest,  and  my  curiosity  was 
roused  to  know  what  would  next  happen.  When 
aboard  the  car,  a  portion  of  them,  as  many  as  could, 
went  into  the  smoking-room ;  and  immediately  one  of 
the  party  took,  from  his  pocket,  a  package  of  cigarettes, 
and  passed  them  around,  because,  in  Mexico,  every- 
body, men,  women,  boys,  girls,  absolutely  everybody, 
of  the  Spanish  blood, — and  I  am  now  speaking  of  them 
in  particular, — smoke  cigarettes,  myself  and  a  dog 
being  the  only  things  in  Mexico  I  saw  showing  a  con- 
tempt for  them,  the  dog  refusing  to  take  a  morsel  of 
food  from  his  master's  hand  holding  a  cigarette,  until 
the  cigarette  was  changed  to  the  other  hand,  while  my 
disgust  was  expressed  in  the  revolt  of  my  feelings. 
This  smoking  party  seated  and  the  cigarettes  passing 
around,  as  stated,  everybody  declined  the  honor  of 
being  first  served,  so  that  they  kept  going  round  until, 
at  last,  someone  made  the  break,  and,  then,  all  partook 
readily.  All  served,  the  patron  struck  a  match,  pass- 
ing it  round  to  the  right,  but  everyone  declined  to  be 
the  first  to  light  his  cigarette,  so  that  the  match  burned 
out,  while  the  dispute  was  in  progress.  Another  match 


SOCIAL.  263 

was  then  struck,  when,  after  a  few  hasty  offers  and 
refusals,  someone  also  took  upon  himself  the  distinc- 
tion of  lighting  his  cigarette  first,  and,  then,  the  re- 
mainder took  their  lights  quickly ;  and  all  commenced 
to  puff,  inhale  and  swallow  smoke,  exhaling  it  through 
their  mouths  and  noses  simultaneously,  so  as  to  bathe 
every  portion  of  the  mouth,  nose,  air-passages,  lungs, 
throat,  gullet  and  stomach  in  smoke.  At  this  point, 
my  disgust  became  speakable,  and  I  hurriedly  left, 
muttering  to  myself  those  justifiable  epithets  which 
policy  and  safety,  sometimes,  do  not  permit  in  public 
declaration. 

In  church,  is  the  only  place  in  Mexico  where  people 
do  not  show  a  disposition  for  smoking.  In  the  bodies 
of  sleeping-cars,  the  practice  is  prohibited,  but  the  en- 
forcement of  the  regulation  requires  constant  vigilance. 
Only  think  of  a  family  around  their  table  at  dinner, 
eating,  drinking  and  smoking  all  at  once,  and  the  whole 
family  participating!  This  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
acme  of  total  depravity ;  yet  the  practice  is  obtaining 
in  the  United  States,  and  is,  in  reality,  not  Mexican- 
Spanish,  but  European,  the  result  of  the  prevalence, 
soon  to  be  designated  predominance,  of  European 
customs  in  the  United  States.  When  I  contemplate 
the  approaching  condition,  I  shudder,  and  feel  like 
denying  my  country  in  advance. 

But  I  must  finish  about  my  sleeping-car  party, 
crowded,  as  I  have  said.  One  of  the  ladies  being  as- 
signed to  an  upper  berth,  the  conductor  made  a  can- 
vass of  the  other  passengers  to  ascertain  if  some  gentle- 
man, occupying  a  lower,  would  show  this  elderly  lady 
the  courtesy  of  exchanging  berths  with  her;  but,  no, 
indeed,  not  by  a  jugful!  All  Spanish  politeness,  even 


264  MEXICO. 

of  the  Castilian  type,  vanished  upon  the  imputation 
that  any  individual  comfort  should  be  given  up;  and 
this  poor  old  lady  had  to  climb  aloft  on  a  stepladder, 
and  undo  and  do  her  toilet,  night  and  morning,  as 
best  she  could. 

Had  not  this  lady  been  elderly,  traditional  gallantry, 
so  repulsive  as  a  substitute  for  courtesy,  might  have 
come  into  play  to  change  the  result. 

So  here  is  Spanish  politeness;  but,  if  my  Spanish 
readers  feel  themselves  aggrieved,  I  will  call  it  Spanish 
politeness  a  la  Mexicano,  as  I  am  personally  unfa- 
miliar with  manners  and  customs  in  Spain,  having 
only,  aside  from  historic  works,  such  information  as 
I  have  obtained  by  reading  Cervantes,  Irving,  and 
Prescott. 

The  thing  to  be  known  is,  that  the  people  who  make 
the  greatest  pretensions  to  politeness,  are  the  last  to 
give  up  even  the  smallest  personal  comfort  or  con- 
venience; so  that,  in  reality,  their  ostentations  are 
merely  the  cloak  with  which  they  cover  their  mean- 
ness. Opaque  to  the  core,  their  outside  is  made  to 
glitter  by  rubbing. 

While  I  am  talking  of  others,  I  will,  also,  say  some- 
thing about  ourselves,  because  talk  is  so  cheap,  and 
writing  costs  nothing;  and  I  will  stick  to  my  subject 
closely  by  saying  something  about  courtesy  or  polite- 
ness among  ourselves. 

I  must  first  separate  the  country  into  the  East  and 
the  West,  to  conform  to  the  prevalence  of  certain 
customs  and  manners  which  do  not  conform  to  politi- 
cal divisions,  nor  follow  geographical  lines. 

Draw  a  line  from  Chicago,   Illinois,   to  Louisville, 


SOCIAL.  265 

Kentucky,  thence  following  the  traditional  Mason  and 
Dixon's  Line  to  the  Atlantic.  Coming  back  now  to 
Chicago,  the  point  of  beginning,  follow  the  chain  of 
Great  Lakes  eastward  to  the  east  end  of  Lake  Ontario, 
thence  project  a  line  due  east  to  the  Atlantic,  reject- 
ing all  that  part  of  the  United  States,  lying  north  of 
this  projected  line,  as  immaterial  in  influencing  the 
general  result.  The  Atlantic  on  the  east  completes 
the  boundary  of  what  at  this  time,  1907,  as  to  manners 
and  customs,  constitutes  the  East. 

The  East,  thus  outlined,  is  wedge-shaped,  and  it  is 
wedge-shaped  because  its  customs  and  manners  are 
assuming  a  definite  form.  Physical  and  moral  forces 
progress  in  the  same  manner,  even  as  to  form. 

Commencing  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  thence  down 
the  Ohio  to  the  Mississippi,  excluding  all  the  state 
of  Missouri,  except  Kansas  City,  continuing  from  the 
southwestern  corner  of  Missouri,  swinging  in  almost  a 
semicircle  to  the  south  to  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
Panhandle  of  Texas,  thence  west  on  the  north  line  of 
Texas  to  New  Mexico,  thence  on  a  sharply  zigzag  and 
indefinite  line  to  the  south  line  of  the  state  of  Cali- 
fornia, thence  to  the  Pacific,  all  that  part  of  the  United 
States  lying  north  of  this  line  roughly  constitutes  the 
West,  where  customs  and  manners  have  not  yet  differ- 
entiated, and  no  wedge-shaped  movement  is  discern- 
ible. Great  and  daring  would  be  the  man  who  would 
now  undertake  to  say  that  here  or  there  will  be  the 
definite  movements  in  this  yet  undifferentiated  mass; 
but  movements  there  will  be. 

All  the  remainder  of  the  United  States,  not  above 
described  as  the  East  or  the  West,  is  the  South,  of 


266  MEXICO. 

wedge-shape,  also,  because  its  customs  and  manners 
are  fixed. 

The  East  plus  the  West  equals  the  North. 

The  West  will  take  its  models  from  the  East,  but 
the  South  will  continue  distinctive  and  peculiar.  To 
the  South,  there  is  only  a  North ;  to  the  East,  a  West 
and  a  South ;  to  the  West,  an  East  and  a  South. 

These  three  great  divisions  of  the  United  States, 
made  by  social  conditions,  are  distinctive  of  the  politi- 
cal conditions  also;  and  distinctive  moral  elements 
and  tendencies  are  not  absent. 

Now,  having  enlarged  more  upon  this  subject  than 
I  had  intended,  I  will  draw  a  comparison.  In  the 
South,  much  the  same  condition  exists,  as  to  sleeping- 
car  politeness,  but  slightly  tempered,  as  in  Mexico; 
in  the  West,  a  great  degree  of  politeness  and  courtesy 
in  public  exists,  but  could  still  be  improved  upon; 
and,  in  the  East,  people  move  like  driftwood  on  a 
swollen  stream,  without  regard  to  what  they  en- 
counter, and  apparently  as  oblivious.  If  they  possess 
any  human  feelings,  they  do  not  show  them. 

Once  more,  as  an  incident  on  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, and,  then,  I  am  done:  In  Mexico  I  saw  a  man, 
at  his  own  impulse  and  inclination,  and  of  his  own 
motion,  pick  up  a  pitcher  himself,  fill  his  own  glass, 
and  say  Gracias!  (Thanks!).  Inasmuch  as  he  was  a 
lawyer,  and  filled  his  glass  with  water,  I  think  his  name 
should  become  immortal,  as  an  example  of  politeness 
and  temperance  to  the  profession;  but  I  exceedingly 
regret  that  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  his  consent, 
without  which  I  would  be  incourteous  to  divulge  his 
name,  a  worthy  example  that  true  merit  shrinks  from 
notoriety. 


SOCIAL.  267 

Since  writing  the  foregoing,  as  postscripts  usually 
begin,  I  have  made  a  long  trip  from  the  West  to  the 
East  and  back,  and  had  such  a  parallel  experience, 
with  opposite  results,  if  I  may  be  allowed  such  an 
expression,  illustrative  of  what  I  have  said,  that  I 
here  produce  it. 

On  the  going  trip,  approaching  Chicago  from  the 
West,  I  arose  late  in  the  morning,  as  becomes  a  traveler 
seeking  rest,  entered  the  dining-car,  was  met  smilingly 
by  the  steward,  who  politely  helped  me  to  a  seat, 
whose  smile  I  returned  with  a  "Thank  you,"  as  I 
sat  down  to  the  table;  and,  to  be  agreeable  as  much 
as  anything  else,  asked  "Where  are  we  this  morn- 
ing?" "Just  left  W ,"  was  the  reply;  "a  little 

late,  but  we  have  a  good  engineer,  and  will  make 
Chicago  on  the  dot."  "Good!"  I  said,  and  I  wrote 
out  an  order  for  a  large  breakfast,  which  I  greatly 
enjoyed;  and,  while  I  ate,  was  accosted  by  "How 
are  you  getting  along;  everything  all  right?"  An- 
swer: "Swimmingly;  splendid!" 

We  did  not,  however,  get  into  Chicago  "on  the 
dot,"  but  about  one  hour  late;  but  what  did  I  care 
for  one  hour  late,  or  two,  or  three,  so  long  as  I  was 
pleasantly  circumstanced? 

On  the  return  trip,  and  coming  into  Chicago  from 
the  east,  I  arose  late  likewise  at  "The  last  call  for 
breakfast  in  the  dining-car!"  entered  the  car,  saw 
the  steward  standing  at  the  opposite  end,  waited  a 
moment  for  him  to  designate  where  I  should  sit;  but, 
as  he  stood  looking  at  me  impassively,  I  made  a  gesture 
to  him  that  I  would  sit  down  at  a  certain  table;  but 
he  did  not  nod  his  approval,  or  make  any  other  motion 
or  sign,  so  I  hung  up  my  hat,  and  helped  myself  to  a 


268  MEXICO. 

chair.  After  waiting  quite  a  while,  the  steward  came, 
and  handed  me  a  menu ;  and,  as  professional  travelers 
get  in  the  habit  of  saying  the  same  things,  and  asking 
the  same  questions  under  similar  circumstances  daily, 
I  asked,  pleasantly,  I  hope,  "  Where  are  we  this  morn- 
ing?" as  everyone  sleeping  soundly  on  a  train  over- 
night has  a  desire  to  get  his  bearings  when  he  awakes 
next  morning;  but  the  answer  was  mumbled  and 
unintelligible;  and,  continuing,  thinking  to  get  the 
information  by  another  question  rather  than  ask  for 
a  repetition  of  the  answer,  which  is  not  always  agree- 
able, I  asked  again  with  as  agreeable  a  rising  inflec- 
tion as  I  could,  "What  time  will  we  get  into  Chicago?" 
The  answer  came  very  gruffly  and  distinctly  as  well, 
"I  don't  know."  Not  theretofore  suspecting  the  true 
temper  and  disposition  of  the  steward,  but  now  re- 
flecting on  his  first  answer,  it  came  back  like  an  echo 
as  "On  the  track."  This,  in  itself,  was  indeed  grati- 
fying, because,  in  my  travels,  both  by  rail  and  other- 
wise, I  have  not  always  been  on  the  track;  but  that 
was  not  the  specific  information  I  wanted  at  that 
time.  I  still  retained  my  temper,  and  said,  "  Of  course 
you  do  not  know  when  we  will  be  in  Chicago,  but  I 
thought  maybe  you  could  approximate  the  time." 
To  which,  as  gruffly  as  ever,  "That's  hard  to  say." 
I  ended  the  conversation  by  saying,  "I  see  no  reason 
why  you  should  tell  me  anything  if  you  are  not  agree- 
ably inclined."  He  crushed  me  with  the  contempt 
of  silence.  I  hastily  ordered  a  light  breakfast,  and 
left  the  car  as  soon  as  possible.  Never  once,  while 
I  was  eating,  did  the  steward  come  near  me;  he  had 
thrown  me  my  bone,  and  I  could  gnaw  it  or  not. 
The  waiter  was  equally  indifferent;  but,  as  I  am 


SOCIAL.  269 

always  experimenting  with  human  nature,  I  thought 
I  would  see  if  I  could  warm  up  this  crowd  by  a  liberal 
tip,  equal  to  half  the  price  of  my  meal,  to  the  waiter; 
but,  no,  indeed;  he  chucked  it  in  his  pocket  with- 
out a  word  of  thanks  or  a  sign  of  pleasure  or  courtesy, 
stood  by  while  I  made  a  couple  of  unsuccessful  hitches 
at  my  chair,  hunted  my  hat,  which  one  always  forgets 
where  he  puts,  set  my  chair  back  to  its  position  at  the 
table,  and  opened  the  door  myself,  although  he  was 
close  by,  and  passed  out. 

On  reflection,  I  do  not  know  whether  to  feel  indig- 
nant at  the  waiter  or  ashamed  of  myself.  Being  from 
the  West,  I  may  not  know  the  size  of  an  Eastern  tip  ; 
and  I  do  not  know  whether  the  waiter  was  uncivil 
or  whether  I  offended  him  by  the  smallness  of  my 
donation;  but  I  noticed,  however,  that  almost  every- 
one else  gave  nothing,  which,  if  I  assume  the  absence 
of  a  secret  arrangement,  makes  my  own  case  no  more 
easily  understood.  I  will  experiment  on  this  in  the 
future;  and  the  next  time  I  am  in  the  East,  I  will 
give  the  waiter  double  the  amount  I  pay  for  my  meal, 
and  await  the  result;  but,  if  this  still  brings  no  de- 
velopments, I  will  the  next  time  hand  him  a  ten-dol- 
lar bill;  and,  in  commanding  tones,  say,  "Keep  the 
change."  This  will  doubtless  have  the  effect  of  making 
the  waiter  think  I  am  drunk;  and,  either  from  policy 
or  custom  or  habit,  will  still  remain  mute  and  im- 
passive, thus  leaving  me  as  much  in  the  dark  as  before 
my  expensive  experiment. 

Candidly,  I  now  think  courtesy  and  politeness  are 
not  in  these  waiters,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  tipped 
out  of  them. 

We  give  these  tips,  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  tipped, 


270  .  MEXICO. 

but  for  our  own  benefit,  for  the  obeisance  of  the  thanks, 
the  courtesy,  the  bow,  the  scrape,  all  of  which  gratify 
our  vanity,  making  us  feel  a  superiority  over  others, 
and  this  feeling  is  as  well  satisfied  by  the  homage  of 
slaves  as  of  monarchs ;  and,  if  we  do  not  get  it,  we  will 
not  even  pay  ten  cents;  but  we  do  expect  it  for  as 
small  a  sum  as  ten  cents,  although  it  sometimes  costs 
monarchs  half  their  empire,  and  indeed  they  sometimes 
lose  all  in  a  vain  attempt  to  perpetuate  it,  so  that  we 
are  able  to  draw  the  general  conclusion  that  vanity 
is  common  to  all  mankind,  and  is  best  gratified  by 
homage. 

Conditions  are  first  individual,  then  social,  then  po- 
litical, the  religious,  and  the  aesthetic,  being  but  modi- 
fications of,  and  included  in,  these.  I  have  presented 
the  first  two,  and  leave  the  determination  of  the  third 
to  the  future. 

The  condition  of  the  people  of  Mexico  may  be  fur- 
ther inferred  from  the  fact  that,  outside  the  towns  and 
cities,  as  I  was  told,  the  whole  country  was  owned 
by  about  7000  people,  which  sounds  quite  odd  in  a 
country  of  13,000,000  inhabitants;  but,  if  I  were  to 
make  my  guess,  after  going  over  the  country,  I  would 
reduce  rather  than  increase  this  estimate. 

I  was  also  told,  while  riding  through  the  State  of 
Chihuahua,  that  I  was  passing  a  distance  of  about 
ninety  miles  north  and  south  through  a  tract  of  land 
owned  by  a  single  individual,  and  that  it  was  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  the  east-and-west  di- 
mension. A  statement  like  this,  being  beyond  ex- 
perience, is  also  beyond  belief,  and  certainly  not  au- 
thentic ;  but  I  do  know  that  the  tract  is  a  very  large  one. 


SOCIAL.  271 

The  statement  was  also  made,  that  this  being  the 
private  property  of  one  man,  and  no  highways  laid 
out  across  it,  he  was  actually  preventing  people  from 
passing  over  it. 

Some  of  these  great  landed  proprietors  live  in  true 
oriental  splendor  and  magnificence  after  the  old  r6- 
gime,  but  now  seldom  found  there  in  their  pristine 
grandeur,  as  the  Orient,  beginning  with  inequality  of 
condition,  is  drifting  toward  equality  of  rights,  while 
the  Occident,  beginning  with  equality  of  condition, 
and,  like  all  things  human,  unable  to  remain  stationary, 
can  drift  only  toward  inequality,  so  that  the  cradle  of 
liberty  is  now  rocking  on  the  other  side  of  the  world; 
and  while  the  Sultan,  shut  up  in  his  fortress,  is  fearful 
of  the  present,  and  anxious  for  the  future,  harems  are 
openly  indulged  on  some  of  the  haciendas  in  Mexico. 

That  one-half  of  the  world  does  not  know  how  the 
other  half  lives,  is  an  old  saying;  but,  notwithstand- 
ing, one  would  not  now  expect  to  find  millions  of  peo- 
ple next  door,  living  after  what  must  be  the  most  prim- 
itive methods  in  the  industries,  arts  and  sciences  of 
man ;  yet  this  is  what  one  finds  in  Mexico. 

I  saw  a  woman  carry  home  two  small  ears  of  corn  in 
the  husk,  remove  the  husk,  shell  it  by  hand  upon  a 
stone,  take  another  stone  and  pound  and  roll  it  into 
flour,  take  up  the  flour  in  the  palm  of  her  hand,  little 
by  little,  mix  it  into  a  paste  with  water,  roll  and  ma- 
nipulate it,  pat  it  into  a  thin,  a  very  thin,  cake,  bake, 
or  rather  dry,  it  on  a  hot  lid,  and  eat  it,  as  her  sole  food 
and  only  repast  that  day,  in  which  feast  I  asked  the 
very  great  privilege  of  joining,  and  thus  I  was  trans- 
ported back  to  the  morning  of  the  world.  This  cake  is 
the  tortilla  (pronounced  torfeeya). 


272  MEXICO. 

The  use  of  the  iron  lid  on  which  to  bake  these  cakes 
is  the  only  thing  that  saved  the  process  from  that  first 
used  by  man;  had  the  meal  been  allowed  to  remain 
in  balls,  and  been  thrown  into  hot  ashes,  and  thus 
baked,  the  first  process  of  man  would  have  been  re- 
peated; had  a  stone  been  heated  in  the  fire,  and  the 
flattened  cakes  been  baked  on  this,  the  second  process 
in  the  development  of  baking  would  have  been  seen; 
but,  in  the  use  of  iron,  as  this  woman  employed  it,  the 
third,  or  iron  age  in  cooking,  was  reached. 

I  saw  here  a  chance  to  bring  within  my  experience 
all  the  developments  in  the  art  of  cooking,  since  the 
world  began,  for  I  had  lived  ten  or  more  years  of  my 
life  in  boarding-houses,  and  I  asked  this  poor  woman  to 
throw  a  little  round  piece  of  the  moistened  meal  into 
the  hot  ashes,  which,  when  baked,  I  took  out  and  ate; 
and,  I  also  took  a  stone,  and  put  it  into  the  fire,  and, 
when  hot,  took  it  out,  and  laid  upon  it  a  little  flattened 
cake  about  the  size  of  a  silver  dollar,  which,  when  baked 
I  ate  also;  so  that  I  now  recount  in  my  experience, 
in  the  art  of  cooking,  all  that  the  world  has  ever 
produced. 

You  now  have  an  example  of  how  the  majority  of 
the  poor  Mexicans  live;  and  you  ought  to  be  able  to 
pass  judgment  upon  the  conquering  Spaniards,  whose 
military  operations,  murders  and  oppressions  have 
brought  about,  and  are  now  perpetuating,  this  condi- 
tion, which,  I  imagine,  is  the  condition  to  which  in- 
satiable individual  and  corporate  greed,  as  now  exem- 
plified in  business,  and  domination,  as  uppermost 
in  politics,  until  the  reaction  of  the  last  year,  would 
reduce  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

Human  motives  and  passions  have  always  been  the 


SOCIAL.  273 

same,  and  I  see  no  escape  from  this  conclusion,  much 
as  it  might  be  decried. 

Every  saying,  however  ridiculously  sounding  to 
those  unfamiliar  with  conditions,  always  has  its  founda- 
tion, and,  sometimes,  is  the  correct  expression  of  fact. 

That  the  Mexicans  take  a  drink  of  water  for  break- 
fast, sit  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  house  for  dinner,  and 
smoke  a  cigarette  for  supper,  provokes  a  smile,  if  not 
laughter,  on  the  part  of  everyone  unfamiliar  with  the 
fact;  but  what  feeling,  my  silken-dressed  and  rosy- 
cheeked,  comes  over  you,  when  I  tell  you  that  this  is, 
too  often,  the  expression  of  reality?  I  am  afraid  that 
you  are  too  well  fed,  clothed  and  housed,  too  much 
humored  and  too  much  spoiled,  to  appreciate  that  any- 
body else  in  the  world  but  yourself  has  feeling;  that, 
for  your  own  comfort,  you  make  the  most  exacting 
demands,  against  the  comfort,  the  health,  and  the 
general  well-being  of  others;  that  your  heart  has  not 
become,  but  has  always  been,  and  will  always  remain, 
hard ;  that  no  drop  of  human  sympathy  has  ever  been 
distilled  within  you  by  the  dew  of  kindness;  that,  for 
a  pretense  only  of  kindness,  but,  in  reality,  to  attract 
attention  to  yourself,  you  will  indiscriminately  press 
a  pup  or  an  infant  to  your  breast,  soon  to  cast  away 
pup  or  infant  to  become  self-supporting  in  the  alley. 
I  am  also  afraid,  that,  if  you  do  not  possess  the  feelings 
of  kindness  toward  those  of  your  own  country  and 
your  own  house,  you  cannot  swell  my  tears  and  join  me 
in  sorrow  for  the  people  of  Mexico.  I  am  still  further 
afraid  that  you  yourself  will  be  a  bad  example  and  an 
element  for  evil  in  your  own  country. 

I  first  came  in  contact  with  the  poverty  of  Mexican 


274  MEXICO. 

life  in  New  Mexico  about  six  years  ago,  while  driv- 
ing over  the  country  a  long  distance  from  railroad 
communication;  and,  coming  to  a  ranch-house  on 
the  Pecos  river,  where  the  surroundings  seemed  some- 
what pretentious,  and  where  the  occupants  were  doubt- 
less lord  of  all  they  surveyed  as  a  range  for  their  stock, 
I  stopped  for  dinner,  which  the  good  woman  of  the 
place  kindly  consented  to  prepare;  but,  after  waiting 
more  than  two  hours  for  it,  I  was  at  length  invited  to 
sit  down  to  boiled  beans,  black  coffee,  and  sad  biscuits. 

I  remembered  what  a  farmer,  in  poor  circumstances, 
once  said  to  me,  by  way  of  extenuation  of  his  apology 
for  the  meal  in  which  he  had  invited  me  to  join  him 
and  his  family,  that  I  ought  to  be  able  to  stand  for 
one  meal  what  they  had  to  eat  all  the  time,  and  I, 
therefore,  ate  with  a  relish  and  heartily,  not  forgetting 
to  pay  a  good,  round  price  for  the  accommodation. 

But  this  was  luxury  compared  with  what  one  will 
encounter  in  Old  Mexico,  where  I  have  seen  houses 
bare  of  every  utensil,  of  all  articles  of  furniture  and 
clothing,  a  pot  hanging  from  a  tripod  outside,  being 
the'  only  thing  of  art  to  distinguish  the  place  as  the 
habitation  of  the  anthropoid;  and  I  thought,  what 
a  beginning  here  for  my  favorite  study,  Anthropology! 

This  statement  is  too  short  and  bare  to  impress 
you  with  the  full  force  of  the  situation;  and  I  must 
say  I  found  in  these  houses  no  stove,  no  pots,  pans, 
or  dishes,  no  tables,  no  chairs,  no  beds,  no  carpets, 
no  pictures,  except  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  the 
saints,  sometimes  stuck  in  the  space  between  rocks,  for 
these  walls  are  often  composed  only  of  rough,  surface- 
worn  rocks  or  stones,  laid  up  more  like  lattice-work 
than  a  wall,  without  mortar,  a  door  without  a  closure, 


SOCIAL.  275 

more  properly  designated  a  hole,  no  window,  poles 
supporting  brush,  grass  or  ground  for  a  roof;  the 
inhabitants  sitting  on  the  ground  in  the  daytime,  and 
lying  on  it  at  night,  clad  always  in  a  blanket;  the 
location  on  a  bed  of  lava  or  among  projecting  rocks, 
and  the  picture  is  complete. 

Man  has  taken  everything  from  these  people,  and 
why  should  not  Christ  hasten  his  second  coming,  and 
remove  the  pictures  from  the  wall,  thus  depriving 
them  even  of  hope,  that  in  the  madness  of  despair 
they  might  rush  again  into  being. 

Man  in  a  state  of  nature,  without  God  or  govern- 
ment, has  never  been  thus  poor,  thus  unfortunate, 
thus  oppressed,  but  only  where  the  Church  has  sub- 
stituted itself  for  God,  and  individual  rapacity  has 
taken  the  place  of  government. 

From  this  doleful,  this  most  doleful  of  all  pictures 
of  human  misery,  you  are  invited  to  follow  me  to  the 
castle  of  Chapultepec,  with  its  military  academy,  its 
West  Point,  in  the  rear,  overlooking  the  valley  and 
City  of  Mexico,  where  power,  magnificence  and  wealth 
are  enthroned. 

Those  who  have  lived  very  long  in  the  world  and 
do  not  yet  know  what  happens  to  a  pompous  dynasty 
maintained  on  the  misery  of  the  people  may  yet  learn 
by  reading  the  history  of  Egypt,  of  Persia,  of  Rome, 
of  France,  and  those  ignorant  of  all  these  countries 
have  within  them  no  basis  for  reflection  on  the  affairs 
and  future  of  Mexico;  but  they  may  yet  read,  may 
yet  think,  may  yet  act. 

The  future  of  Mexico,  already,  perhaps,  sufficiently 
indicated,  needs,  in  closing,  a  few  words,  to  make  the 
work  complete. 


276  MEXICO. 

During  the  personal  government,  I  cannot  say  ad- 
ministration, and  I  would  be  discourteous  to  say  reign, 
or  rule,  even,  of  President  Diaz,  which  I  hope  may  be 
yet  long  to  accustom  the  people  to  peace,  the  country 
will  enjoy  tranquillity,  as  a  government,  and  pros- 
perity in  its  enterprises,  at  the  expense,  not  to  the 
profit  or  advancement,  of  the  people,  which  status 
is  and  will  be  maintained  by  public  compliance,  but 
not  consent  to  this  tenure  for  life,  with  which  the 
people  would  neither  comply  nor  consent,  if  heredi- 
tary, so  that  we  here  plainly  see  the  operation  of  that 
law  of  society  and  government,  which  makes  a  presi- 
dent more  potent  than  a  king,  that  law  as  broad  as 
the  human  race,  pleased  with  the  first  attempt,  an- 
noyed by  the  second,  disgusted  with  the  third,  out- 
raged by  the  fourth, — all  of  which  is  founded  on  the 
constitution  of  man,  from  which  starting-point  his 
acts  might  be  determined  in  advance. 

If  President  Diaz  should  resign,  as  I  hope  he  will 
not,  great  confusion  would  occur,  with  unknown  re- 
sult ;  and,  if  he  hold  control  of  the  government  through 
a  declining  and  helpless  old  age,  unrest  will  arise,  but 
the  very  power  of  his  name  will  still  govern. 

When  he  dies,  we  have  now  come  to  the  common 
point  of  all  things  human:  his  government  will  die 
with  him,  because  he  is  the  government,  and  aside 
from  him  non  est. 

All  Europe,  and  France  in  particular,  trembled  at 
the  terrible  roar  of  Louis  XIV,  "I  AM  THE  STATE!" 
but  this  was  only  the  groaning  of  a  ghost,  then  in- 
habiting the  armor  of  his  glorious  ancestors,  whose 
great  heritage  he  was  squandering  and  bringing  to 
impotence  and  disgrace.  Europe,  at  that  time,  was 


SOCIAL.  277 

afraid  of  ghosts;  and  the  sepulchral  sounds  from  this 
deserted  house  saved  the  monarchy,  which  would  have 
been  lost  on  the  field. 

The  case  of  President  Diaz  is  different  and  similar: 
different,  in  that  his  power  is  potent  and  personal, 
created,  maintained,  and  perpetuated  by  himself, 
without  obligation  to  ancestry  or  heredity;  similar,  in 
the  triumph  of  individual  will:  "The  king  willeth," 
"The  president  desires." 

Dissolution  follows  death  so  closely  as  to  be  synony- 
mous. I  am  still  following  the  course  of  nature,  nature 
in  the  affairs  of  men  as  in  their  individual  lives.  Death 
and  dissolution  of  President  Diaz;  death  and  disso- 
lution of  his  government.  In  the  same  instant,  we 
need  not  wait  for  time,  will  occur,  not  a  resurrection, 
but  the  liveliest  spirit  of  antagonism  to  all  that  just 
now  died,  now  only  an  apparition. 

The  general  scramble  for  place  will  beget  factions; 
factions,  parties;  parties,  rebellions;  rebellions,  revo- 
lutions; revolutions,  anarchy;  anarchy,  governments; 
governments,  debts;  debts,  discredit;  discredit,  re- 
pudiation; repudiation,  intervention:  and  thus  his- 
tory repeats  itself. 

I  am  now  done,  and  here  we  part  company. 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Absolutism 148 

Abyssinia 200 

Adam 53 

JSsop 161 

Agias  Calientes,  62,  225,  229 

Alexandria 229 

Alfalfa 48,     55 

Altitude     and      latitude 

compared 41 

American  Revolution,  51,  167 
Amusements,         games, 

sports 239 

Anthropology 39,  98,  207 

Appalachian  range 13 

Aqueducts 51 

Arts 58 

Arabia 21,     54 

Archimedes 82 

Aristotle 142,  195 

Aristocracies 149 

Army,  The 161 

Asia  Minor 51,  202,  229 

Assessed  value  of  prop- 
erty of  Mexico 26 

Athens 229 

Australia 197 

Automobiles 66 

Aztecs 31,  163 

Bad-order  cars 71 

Bad  railroad  tracks. . .          73 


Page. 

Babylon 229 

Baking ».   271 

Banks  of  Newfoundland,  14 
Barrenness  of  Mexico.  .  .  46 

Behring  Strait 196 

Bible  quoted 102  to  108 

Bishop,  The 131 

Blackstone 167 

Blanket- weaving 56 

Bolivar 151 

Boundaries  of  Mexico. ...       9 

Bozzaris 151 

Building  material 16 

Buildings,  plan  of 28 

Bull-fight 242 

Burial  of  dead 238 

Burro-riding 66 

Burro  trains 68 

Caesar 163 

Canada 40 

Canals 51 

Cape  of  Good  Hope 198 

Car  famine 70 

Carribean  Sea 198 

Caucasians 204 

Cause  of  rebellions   and 

uprisings 191 

Celebration  of  mass,  125,  129 
Celebration  of  natal  day,  153 
Celts..  51 


[279] 


280 


INDEX. 


Centralization  of  federal 

authority 157 

Chase,  Salmon  P 159 

Chapultepec,  29,  30,  217,  275 

Chichemecs 31 

China 232 

Christian  religion 109 

Churches 28 

Church  construction 116 

Cities,  plan  of 27 

City  of  Mexico,  17,  27,  28, 
30,  32,  52,  65,  79,  136, 

163,  175,  216 229 

Civilization 212 

Claims  for  personal  dam- 
ages   82 

Claims  for  stock  killed. . .  84 
Claims  for  loss  and  dam- 
age to  freight 84 

Colorado 40 

Colima 17 

Columbus 209 

Corns 139 

Coke 167 

Commercial 64 

Confiscation     of     church 

property 115,  130 

Confucius 170 

Conquest  of  Mexico 

42,  51,  206 

Conduct  of  schools 228 

Constantine  the  Great . . .  136 
Constitution  of  Mexico. . .  171 
Constitution   of   Oklaho- 
ma   173 

Constitution  of  the  U.  S.,  172 

Cortez 208 

Cotton 50 

Crime. .                             .  231 


Cromwell,  Oliver 163 

Cromwell,  Richard 163 

Democracies 149 

Depression  of  1889-1897,     75 

Descriptive 9 

Deserted  Village,  The. . .     59 

Despotisms 149 

Destruction  of  industries, 

arts  and  literature 110 

Diaz,  136,  137,  144,  146, 

147,  150,  151,  152,  155, 

156,  159,  163,  174,  175, 

210 277 

Disco,  island  of 45 

Distribution    of    human 

race 196 

Divorces 236 

Doctors  in  Mexico 250 

Domestic  animals 55 

Dominion  of  the  church,  112 

Drawn  work 225 

Dress  of  the  people 56 

Education 226 

Egypt,  199,  200,  201,  229,  275 

Egyptian  Isis 170 

Election  of  President  in 

Mexico 174 

Election  of  President  in 

the  United  States 175 

Emigration ...  46,  50,  58,     68 

Esquimaux 195 

Estados  Unidos 139 

Ethiopia 201 

Europe 51,  207 

Fable  of  a  fox 142 

Fable,  mythological 17 

Farming,  conditions  pre- 
cedent       62 

Fates 57,  131,  209 


INDEX. 


281 


Food  production 44 

Formation  of  motm tains,     10 

France 163 

Freight  rates 80 

Freight  service 70 

French  revolution Ill 

Fruits 49 

Future  of  Mexico 

44,  155,  275 

Gambling 30 

Gardens 28 

Gateways 64 

General  denial 74 

General  features  of  Mex- 
ico      10 

Going  to  church 125 

Gold 25 

Goldsmith 59 

Gonzales,  Manuel 210 

Government  of  Mexico. . .     14 

Grains 46 

Grasses 47 

Great  Basin 11 

Greece,     110,    226,    227,  229 

Geocentric  theory 194 

Guadalajara 27,  230,  237 

Guadalupe 118 

Guizot 227 

Gulf  of  Mexico 40,  198 

Gulf  Stream 14 

Harvest 63 

Haciendas 42,  61,  191 

Hamilton1,  Alexander 159 

Hebrews 201 

Henry  IV.  of  France ....    135 

Henry  VIII 136 

Herodotus 137,  201 

Himalayas 202 

Homer 21,     53 


Houses,      material      for 

building 58 

Human  sacrifice 99 

Humboldt 36 

Imprisonments 85 

Increase  of  rain 22 

Industrial 42 

Intemperance 237 

Interstate         Commerce 

Commission 73,  81 

Introductory 7 

Iron 25 

Irrigation 51 

Irving,  Washington 164 

Italy 229 

Iztaccihuatl 17 

Japanese 69,  117 

Juarez 174,  210 

Kane,  Dr 45 

Kentucky 57 

Language  and  literature,  217 

La  Viga 52 

Law  books 165 

Laws  and  lawyers 104 

Laws  of  Kansas 67 

Lawsuits 169 

Le  Mantuer 159 

London 32 

Louis  XIV 30,  40,  276 

Lybia 21 

Lycurgus 226 

Machine  government. . . .  143 

Macedonian  campaigns. .  110 

Maguey 49 

Manitoba 63 

Manufacture  of  clothing,  56 

Marriages 234 

Maximilian 174,  210 

Mechanical  skill ..            .  225 


INDEX. 


Medieval  Europe  ...  113,  189 

Mexican  Congress 145 

Mexico  warned 30,     60 

Middle  ages 153,  161 

Military  despotism.  .152,  162 
Millionaires  and  paupers,  160 

Minerals 15,     23 

Mismanagement   of   rail- 
roads      71 

Mississippi  valley 14 

Montezuma 33,  217 

Moors 29 

Mountains,  products  of . .     15 

Mount  Ararat 40 

Miiller,  Max 202 

Municipal  corruption ....    142 

Municipal  ownership 96 

Museum  in  City  of  Mex- 
ico    213 

Museum  on  La  Viga 52 

Napoleon 163 

Natural  religion 108 

New  World 53 

New  York 32 

Oak,  The 40 

Occident,  The 271 

Old  World 53 

Oligarchies 149 

Olympian  deities 110 

Orient,  The 271 

Origin  of  designs 199 

Origin  of  races 195 

Other  gods 117 

Palmyra 54 

Panindicuaro,  trip  to 257 

Paintings 225 

Paris 32 

Penjamo 133 

Peonage 42 

Persian  invasion ..  .    110 


Personal  customs 136 

Personal  debasement ....  134 
Peru,  195,  196,  197,  199,  207 

Pike's  Peak 36 

Plowing 62 

Poetic  fancy 19 

Police,  The 163 

Political 138 

Political  policy 135 

Politeness 261 

Polynesia 196 

Popocatapetl 17,     33 

Population  of  Mexico. . .  .  205 
Poverty  in  Mexico,  60,  61,  273 
Priests,  108,  109,  129, 

130,  132,  133,  198 
Prescott,  19,  21,  54,  99  to  102 
Primitive  mode  of  life. .  42 

Products  of  Mexico 44 

Proposed  government  for 

the  United  States 187 

Protestant  congregations,  117 

Public  health 25 

Pulque 49 

Puruandiro 231 

Races,  Mexican 203 

Railroad  employe's 69 

Railroad  influence 141 

Railroads  in  Mexico 42 

Railroad  transportation..   131 

Real  estate  agents 46 

Relative  charges  of  rail- 
roads       79 

Relative  cost  of  railroads,     78 
Relative  service  of  rail- 
roads       79 

Relative    importance    of 

cities 32 

Religious 98 

Religious  gatherings 131 


INDEX. 


283 


Renaissance 109,  111 

Republica  Mexicana 139 

Rocky  Mountain  district,     27 
Rome,  110,  168,  189,  229,  275 

Rurales 161,  162,  232 

Russia 237 

Sacrifices 99,  109 

Scarcity  of  fuel 34 

Sciences,  five 193 

Sculpture 226 

Separation  of  church  and 

State Ill,  114 

Settlers  on  arid  lands. ...     23 

Shrine  of  Mexico 118 

Sight-seeing 30 

Sister  Republic   of   Mex- 
ico      196 

Social 193 

Social  scenes 194 

Socrates 165 

Solon 226,  227 

Sombrero 223 

Spaniards,  31,  33,  42,  204, 

205,  207,  211,  272 

St.  Lawrence,  The 14 

Stage  lines 65 

Start,  The 7 

State  Boards  R.  R.  Com- 
missioners       77 

States  of  our  lives,  five .  .    193 

Stamp  tax 159 

States  of  Mexico 156 

States  of  the  U.  S 156 

Steamers 66 

Street-car  systems 30 

Sugarcane 55 

Supposed  royal  family. . .   214 

Tadmor 54 

Tampico 65 

Tariff  of  Mexico..  .    160 


Tariff  of  the  U.  S 160 

Tejada,  Lerdo  de 210 

Tennessee 57 

Tezcuco 33,  51 

Thebes 229 

Thieves'  Market 223 

Threshing 62 

Tierra  caliente 19,  55 

Tocqueville,  M.  de 138 

Toltecs 31 

Tournefort 40 

Transcendentalism 213 

Transportation 64 

Trip  on  canal 52 

Troy 110 

United  States  and  Mex- 
ico compared 26 

Valley  of  the  Colorado. . .  11 

Valley  of  the  Columbia. .  11 

Valparaiso 229 

Vegetables 48 

Vera  Cruz 65,  69,  152 

View  of  City  and  Valley 

of  Mexico 30 

Volcanoes 17 

Volney 227 

Washington 51,  151 

Wages  in  Mexico 60 

Walking 66 

Water,  scarcity  of 17 

Wealth  of  Mexico 60 

What  is  religion? 128 

White    tenantry    in    the 

United  States 43 

Why  Spain  lost  domin- 
ion      in       the       New 

World 208 

Willows 40 

Winnipeg 63 

Zacatecas,  34,  54,  68,  152,  229 


G?6r 


A    000195294     4 


